SEA FISHEEIES LABORATORY. 105 



balanced by a great increase in the number of shell- 

 fish, i.e., cockles and mussels, sent in, as will be observed 

 from the statistics later on in this report. 



The rest of the work, including the microscopical exam- 

 ination of the fish and shell-fish stomachs and eggs, has 

 been done in the Fisheries Laboratory at University 

 College, Liverpool. In March, 1894, Mr. Andrew Scott 

 succeeded Mr. Corbin as Fisheries Assistant, and the 

 detailed work during the year has been carried out by 

 Mr. Scott, under the general direction of Prof. Herdman, 

 as in former years. 



Mr. Dawson has again kindly placed at our disposal 

 the monthly records of observations made in the district 

 by himself and the various fishery officers, and from 

 these we have extracted a good deal of valuable infor- 

 mation. Some of it is given here, while part is held 

 over for a future report in order that further additions 

 may be made before publication. 



During the year Mr. Dawson has been continuing 

 the interesting experiments made with an ordinary 

 shrimp shank net fitted with a bar in order to determine 

 whether the number of small fish usually caught in shrimp- 

 ing could be diminished without affecting the quantity of 

 shrimps taken in the net, and, so far as the results go, 

 they seem to show that the bar shank net takes on the 

 whole fewer fish and more shrimps than either the 

 ordinary shank or shrimp trawl nets. We give the 

 results of some of the experiments further on. 



A short account is given below of the Irish Sea as a 

 natural fishery ground, and the subject of a sea-fish 

 hatchery for the district is fully discussed. At the end of 

 the Report will be found some notes on a few additions to 

 the known fauna of the district obtained by the steamer 

 and otherwise during the trawling investigations. 



