90 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Lancashire and Western area should be cut oft' from the 

 Solway Firth to the north and from the Bristol Channel 

 to the south. In studying the distribution and move- 

 ments of plaice throughout the seasons of the year, and 

 the life of the fish, it is evident, even from our few obser- 

 vations during the last couple of years, that the great 

 shallow water areas of the Solway are of considerable 

 interest. This is recognised by the Fishery Board for 

 Scotland as well as by ourselves, and on more than one 

 occasion now they have asked us to make observations for 

 them from our steamer, and to aid them in obtaining 

 young fishes for their transplantation experiments. We 

 are also at the present time preparing to co-operate with 

 the Fishery Board in certain drift-bottle experiments for 

 the purpose of determining the movements of the surface 

 waters of the Irish Sea and the Clyde Sea-area, such as 

 may affect the drift of fish eggs and larvse. This is as it 

 ought to be, and if the whole west coast from the Solway 

 to the Severn were in the control of one Authority, effi- 

 ciently equipped with boats and observers, an organised 

 co-operation with the Fishery Board for Scotland would 

 be natural, and a joint investigation of the Solway and of 

 any other problems of common interest would undoubtedly 

 be effected. 



The Isle of Man should also join this proposed 

 western amalgamation. The seas round that Island are 

 closely related to the Lancashire waters, and whatever the 

 fishermen may be required to do, the fish respect no terri- 

 torial boundaries. The Isle of Man has everything to 

 gain by coming into line with the English counties. To 

 administer the insular fisheries alone would be an extrava- 

 gant process. Joined with Lancashire and the other 

 counties in a western combination, in return for a very 

 moderate rate the Manx fisheries would be adequately 



