SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 97 



pass into the furnace instead of into the gasometer. The Gas 

 Department of the railway did all it could to keep up the supply. 

 The store tanks had to be filled up every tide, and the circulation 

 cut down to a minimum to keep the fish alive as long as possible, 

 in event of a breakdown, and allow time to effect temporary 

 repairs. This probably accounts for a late spawning, as no 

 fertilised eggs were obtained until 24th March. The last fry 

 were set free on 15th May. Altogether 1,300,000 eggs were 

 collected and incubated. Slightly over 1,000,000 fry were 

 hatched and set free. No flounders were dealt with. 



The Library. 



One of the rooms was especially fitted up with cases of 

 shelving during the year so that all the books could be collected 

 together and made more easily accessible to workers. Miss 

 Allen, Departmental Librarian at Liverpool University, came 

 later on in the summer and rearranged the collection, and also 

 prepared a Card Catalogue of it. There is space for considerable 

 additions, and the catalogue will be easy to keep up to date. 

 Plankton. 



573 samples of plankton, taken in connection with the 

 intensive study investigations, were received and qualitatively 

 examined during 1920. The results are partly dealt with later 

 on in the report. Samples for comparison were collected from 

 time to time and examined. 

 Barrow Channel and the Oil Traffic. 



Articles have appeared recently in the Press and elsewhere 

 drawing attention to the probable destruction of pelagic life, 

 including fish- eggs and larvae, by the rapid extension of the use 

 of fuel oil in place of coal in all kinds of mechanically-driven 

 vessels. It has been suggested that the accidental or wilful 

 discharge of oil into the sea may produce a surface film which 

 prevents the water absorbing air from the atmosphere so that 

 eventually the surface organisms may be asphyxiated. If the 

 microscopic food of the larval fishes were thus destroyed the 



