242 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



abundance varies exceedingly from season to season, the 

 variations in the nature and abundance of fiat and oilier 

 fishes being greater than can possibly be accounted for by 

 accidental circumstances; again, during the months of 

 October, November and December, in which we have 

 trawled in Luce Bay we have observed hardly any 

 variation in the numbers and kinds and sizes of fishes 

 which might not be due to the accidents of the 

 observations. In Fishguard Bay there was a fish fauna 

 both abundant and various. It ought to be stated, 

 however, that we have only one or two observations 

 of the fish on this giound, and it may easily be the case 

 that variations in distribution as marked as those on 

 Blackpool Ground may occur in different seasons of the 

 year. Obviously, closure of an area does not always 

 produce the same results; many other circumstances- 

 physical conditions, fishing in adjacent water, and the 

 like, must operate in masking the effects of the closure. 



The haul outside Fishguard Bay presents no features 

 worthy of note. 



3. Food of Plaice and Dabs. 



The following observations relate to the examination 

 of the stomachs of plaice and dabs taken together on the 

 same ground, and in the same hauls with the trawl-net. 

 Comparatively few fishes have so far been examined, but 

 it is hoped to devote considerably more time in the future 

 to this branch of work. The examinations have been 

 made from the point of view of the supposed competition 

 of the two species with each other in respect of food. The 

 individual sixes of the fishes examined are not given, but 

 in the great majority of cases the plaice were from (Sin. to 

 about 12in. in length (9in. would represent the average 

 size), while the dabs were rather smaller (about (Sin. long). 



