SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 323 



the spawning season, and then on occasions great numbers 

 are found in the nets. 



We have a record of a haul from the Lancashire Sea 

 Fisheries steamer, at 18 miles KW. by W. of Piel Gas 

 Buoy, on 6. iii. 05, in which the plankton consisted of 

 little else than fish eggs in quite unusual quantity. The 

 net was taken in at intervals of ten minutes for an hour, 

 but only the first sample was preserved, the other five 

 gatherings being returned to the sea alive. The eggs, 

 when examined, were found to be in all stages of develop- 

 ment from the beginning of segmentation to the hatching 

 point ; and they included eggs of plaice, haddock, whiting, 

 dab and flounder. Without doubt the majority of them 

 would have hatched out in that immediate area. 



Fig. 12. — Monotonic Phytoplankton hauls, from April. 



The four jars photographed in fig. 12 show hauls of 

 very different volumes (13 to 100 c.c.) obtained with the 

 same net at the same spot within 10 days in April, '07. 



