SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 183 



Foraminifera, Annelid setae, along with a 

 certain amount of sand. 

 6°. The stomachs and intestines of the young fish 

 (mainly da'bs) brought to the Laboratoiy from 

 near the Deposit buoy were full of sand, with 

 fragments of shells and remains of animals. 

 " Conclusions. — So far as these samples show, there is 

 no reason to think that either the shrimps or the young 

 fish feed upon the stuff deposited by the Hoppers. They 

 did not show any traces of it in their stomachs, nor are 

 they specially abundant where the bottom shows the 

 greatest amount of dirt and decomposable material." 

 " University College, 4t W. A. Herdman. 1 ' 



"March 15th, 1900." 

 Mr. Dawson and I therefore agree that it is a mistake 

 to suppose (1) that the Liverpool refuse is especially 

 abundant at the bottom in the neighbourhood of the so- 

 called "deposit" buoy, which is on the Burbo Bank 

 Shrimping Grround, and (2) that shrimps feed specially 

 upon such refuse. Consequently the idea that the shrimps 

 are attracted to the ground they frequent by the Liverpool 

 deposits may be relinquished, and it is very improbable 

 that changing the place of deposition would have any 

 favourable effect upon the present distribution of shrimps 

 and young fish. 



As a matter of fact, as Mr. Dawson has pointed out in 

 one of his quarterly reports, the steam hopper barges con- 

 veying the refuse generally go much further out to sea 

 than the area in question before discharging ; and, with 

 the exception of sand, no material of any kind has 

 apparently been deposited in the neighbourhood of the 

 deposit buoy and from there to the Burbo Bank for some 

 time. 



