SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 79 



and no fish-hatching has been carried on. Mr. Scott continues 

 the history of the MorecaiQa.be Sprat Fishery, which he described 

 in last year's Report, and shows how desirable it is that 

 " curing " of the fresh fish should be established locally. 

 The investigations which he has been able to carry out on 

 Herrings and on Plaice, at the Piel Laboratory, are fully 

 explained and need no comment. The remarkable Roosebeck 

 Plaice fishery of last Autumn, of which he gives an interesting 

 account, is worthv of record. 



Shell-Fish Cultivation, &c. 



The most important part of this Report is Dr. Johnstone's 

 account of the work carried out under the Committee during 

 the past year in connection with schemes for the improvement 

 of the Shell-fish industries in the neighbourhood. The con- 

 clusion, that the result of inspection and bacteriological 

 analysis ought to be the establishment of purification plant 

 and not merely the condemnation of a shell-fish bed, is one 

 of great importance, which will no doubt receive careful and 

 sympathetic consider aticm. Dr. Johnstone's discussion of the 

 methods of analysis and the nature of the polluting organisms 

 is most instructive, and shows the difficulty in arriving at 

 very definite results. 



The opinions given by Dr. Johnstone on the important 

 question how far fishes infested by parasites or suffering 

 from tumours and other diseases are thereby rendered unsuit- 

 able for human food, are of wide interest to the general public, 

 and may do something to allay the fears of nervous customers. 



Although our biometric scheme of Herring investigation 

 has had to cease for the present, Dr. Johnstone has been able 

 on samples of Manx summer herring, obtained from Port Erin. 

 to examine the fat-contents of the flesh and explain its bearing 



