256 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



most kindly acted as our agents and received marked 



fishes and paid rewards. Finally, many gentlemen not 

 connected with our Committee have given us much 

 assistance. I refer more particularly to Mr. R. Knox, of 

 Douglas, Mr. G. Holmes, of the Cumberland District, and 

 Mr. Rust, of the Milford Haven Fishermen's Association. 

 Both the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical 

 Instruction and the Fishery Board for Scotland have 

 instructed their officers to give us every assistance. It is 

 needless to say that without this cordial co-operation the 

 experiments would not have been possible. 



The total number of plaice returned is, therefore, 

 195, or 2-3J per cent, of the whole. But of the 855 fishes 

 dealt with 142 were liberated in Luce Bay while trawling 

 there for spawning plaice, and as there is very little 

 fishing (and no trawling) in this area, it was not expected 

 that many of these fish would be recaught. Again, 290 

 fish were liberated since the end of March, and many more 

 of these will doubtless be recaptured. If we consider only 

 the fish which have been liberated in the Lancashire and 

 Western District area before the end of March, 1905, the 

 results are very encouraging. Of 432 such fishes 148. or 

 34^ per cent., have been returned. 



It is quite certain that a number of fish have been 

 recaptured and have not been reported. I have heard of 

 several such cases. One was only discovered after being 

 exposed in Douglas Fish Market, and several were sent 

 from other markets or fishmongers' shops. In some cases 

 i lie approximate localities where these fish were caught 

 could be traced, but this was impossible in others. In one 

 case a fish-label was sent to me which had certainly been 

 fried. In this case the mark could not have been noticed 

 until the fish had been cooked a fact which does not say 

 much for the care with which the cook cleaned the fish. 



