34 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



During the Summer vacation (July Mr. W. Birtwistle. 



to September). Miss I. M. G. Butler. 



Miss M. Knight. Mrs. Bisbee. 



Miss A. Bishop. Miss D. Hanson. 

 Professor Herdman. , 



Miss E. C. Herdman. October 29th to November 1st. 



Mr. E. N. Allott. Miss M. Knight, 



The Fish Hatchery. 



" The stock of plaice collected for spawning purposes 

 during the autumn of 1919 consisted of 124 survivors of the 

 previous year's stock — 82 brought from Luce Bay by the 

 fishery steamer ' James Fletcher,' and 110 caught off Niarbyl 

 and purchased from local fishermen, making a total of 316 fish. 

 Of this number 27 are known to have died before the end of 

 the year, so that the hatching season of 1920 opened with 

 289 fish. 



" The season began on February 9th — -an unusually 

 early date — when 15,750 eggs were placed in the hatching 

 boxes. A few of the fish must have begun spawning three 

 weeks earlier than this, for amongst the first lot of eggs 

 skimmed from the ponds a few newly-hatched larvae were 

 found. The number of eggs skimmed on one day did not 

 exceed 100,000 until March 10th, and the largest daily numbers 

 —378,000 and 399,000— were recorded on the 17th and 22nd 

 respectively. Upwards of 200,000 were recorded on March 

 13th, 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, and 30th. The total number 

 of eggs collected is 4,756,800, and of larvae set free 4,010,000. 

 Both these totals represent a substantial advance upon the 

 results of the previous year, and justify confidence that with 

 more settled conditions a much larger output of larval fish in 

 the near future may be expected. 



" The Hatchery Record, giving the number of eggs 

 collected and of larvae set free on various days, is as follows :— 



Larvse 

 Eggs collected. Date. set free. Date. 



25,200 ...Feb. 9 to 12 22,050 ...Feb. 23 



25,200 ... „ 14 to 18 18,900 .., March 8 



