SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY, 147 



A study of the salinity pi this portion of the Irish 

 Sea. promised, therefore, to be of considerable interest. 



For some years past temperature and salinity 

 measurements at various depths have been made in the 

 Western portion of the Irish Sea by the Irish Board of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction, under the 

 direction of Mr. E. W. L. Holt ; but up to 1906 the Eastern 

 portion had been left almost entirely alone. From 1904 

 onwards the " Bulletins trimestriels du Conseil permanent 

 international pour T exploration de la mer " give the 

 results of salinity and temperature observations made on 

 surface samples collected by the Bahama Bank (54° 19' 

 N ; 40° 13' E) and Cardigan Bay (52° 24' N ; 5° 00' E) 

 lightships. From this information surface isohalines are 

 drawn in the published charts. 



In July, 1906, a systematic study of the Eastern por- 

 tion of the Irish Sea was begun under the scheme of 

 hydrographic observations sanctioned by the Lancashire 

 and "Western Sea-Fisheries Committee. On the first 

 voj^age samples were collected from points situated on 

 lines drawn from Piel Gras Buoy to Maughold Head, and 

 from the Calf of Man to Holyhead breakwater. A few 

 samples from other positions were also collected on this 

 trip. These two lines were kept to until the end of 1906, 

 during which interval of time two more trips were made. 



For the next two trips (February and May, 1907) the 

 first line of soundings was altered to one running W.N.W. 

 from Piel Gras Buoy instead of N.W. The other line 

 remained as before. 



Finally, in July, 1907, the first line underwent a 

 slight alteration so as to make it run along the 54° of 

 latitude and to bring it into agreement with the line of 

 soundings run out from the Irish Coast to the Calf of 



