74 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Dr. Johnstone’s investigations have shown that it is 
impossible to put down definite figures for the dietetic value — 
of *‘ the herring,’’ or herrings in general. In order that 
figures may have any meaning, it is necessary to state the 
kind of herring and when and where it was caught. For 
example, the valuable fatty material in the flesh of 
the herring, derived from its rich crustacean food, may 
apparently vary, according to the kind of herring and the 
time of year, from about 2% to about 40%. In the analysis 
of an average herring, pickled when in good condition during 
the summer fishery, this fat would amount to about 22%, 
the proteid contents might be 21%, and the ash (including 
the salt) nearly 10%, leaving about 47% for water and minute 
traces of other things. But these figures would not apply to 
other herrings caught at other times of the year. For fuller © 
details on this very important subject and other valuable 
information on the dietetic value of fish, I refer the 
Committee and all others interested in this important branch 
of the national food supply to the statement of results given 
in Dr. Johnstone’s article at p. 85. 
Dr. Johnstone is now extending his work to other allied — 
fish, and the natural application of his results to a considera 
tion of the best methods of preserving our periodic large 
fisheries in such a way as to secure the best food values and 
render them available for the public use. 
Dr. Johnstone’s statistical article on the plaice fishery 
of the last quarter of a century gives only a brief and 
preliminary survey of the full and detailed report on the 
subject which he has prepared and which we hope to print 
on some future occasion. The demonstration of the varia- 
tions in the numbers of plaice caught, over periods of years, 
is very interesting, and apparently this natural periodicity 
in the plaice fisheries has not been affected by the artificial 
change in conditions resulting from the circumstances of 
the War. 
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