£22, TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Evidently, these sprats are not very suitable for preserving 
in tins, the percentage of oil being rather low, and the fish 
being small and rather unequal in size. The mixture of white- 
bait and smal! herrings with the sprats is also a disadvantage. 
It should be noted, however, that the method of catching 
was a very special one—fixed weirs traversed by tidal streams— 
and it may be the case that appropriate fishing experiments 
with stowbut nets and drift nets of restricted mesh would 
be successful in obtaming sprats of suitable size. As regards 
fat-contents the fish are, however, of poor quality. 
22 Bes hop ra us 
Collected from “ fishing-baulks”’ and stowbut nets at 
Morecambe. The sprats are rather unequal im size (though 
this disqualification, from the packing standpoint, might be 
avoided by the use of drift-nets instead of the stow nets). 
Those sampled were mostly fine fish of about 9 to 12 cms. in 
length. Towards the end of the season they become sexually 
mature, and ripening ovaries and testes may be seen, though 
spawning does not appear actually to occur in the shallow 
inshore area of Morecambe Bay. The season begins about 
October and may last till March, but it came to an end pre- 
maturely in 1919—much earlier than in 1918. It is doubtful 
whether the cause of this was natural or economic. — 
Date. Water Fat. Proteid. Ash. Total. Nitrogen. 
22.2.18 11:9 10°2 17°5 0:5 100-1 160 
4.10.18 67-0 14°6 171 1:3 100-0 16°2 
26.11.18 68°0 13:1 17°5 1-5 100-1 16-0 
17.12.18 68°3 12:4 16°9 16 99°2 15:2 
23.1.19 71:9 9°6 16°8 1:7 100.0 16-0 
Apart from the variability in size these sprats are highly - 
suitable for conservation processes. The percentage of fat in 
the tissues is moderately high, for winter-caught fish. The 
fish themselves are plump and well-shaped, and they are 
usually handled by the fishermen with great care. The 
