240 Appendices to Fifth Annual Report 



the hatching boxes may overflow and lead to loss of large numbers of the 

 fry. 



When the fry are hatched it is found advisable to have a gentle move- 

 ment of the surface of the water, to prevent the young fish crowding 

 together and undergoing suffocation. This is obtained in the following 

 manner : — 



A frame (PI. X., a) is suspended ten inches above the hatching box 

 by four cords (b) attached to the roof of the hatching shed. This frame 

 is able to swing backwards and forwards between the four uprights (c). 

 The frame is the same breadth as the apparatus, but a foot shorter. It is 

 divided longitudinally in a similar manner to the apparatus below. A cord 

 is carried through a pulley (d), and, like the cord in Plate VIII., connected 

 to the revolving cylinder. By means of the cord {g) the frame is pulled 

 forward, and it is pulled back again by a weight attached to the cord 

 passing over the pulley (e) ; the frame should move backwards and for- 

 wards about eight times per minute. 



Suspended from the cross-bars of the frame are glass tubes, which, as 

 the frame moves, are carried backwards and forwards immediately below 

 the surface of the water. This effectually prevents the crowding together 

 of the fry during the first few days. After the third day, the danger of 

 crowding is practically over. In fig. 2, Plate IX., one of the glass tubes 

 (b) referred to above is represented suspended by two threads (d. d) to a 

 piece of wood (a) which is fixed to the frame. 



For hatching detached lobster eggs, sloping boxes are used. One of 

 them is represented in Plate IX. fig. 1. It is constructed of tin plate, 

 and is made of such a size as will fit the compartment where it is to be 

 used. Each box requires a perforated screen (a) to prevent the escape of 

 the young lobsters when hatched. The spout (b) fits into the notch of the 

 partition below (Plate VIII., I). 



The stream of water passes upwards, and thus has a better chance of 

 coming into contact with all the eggs, which being heavy lie on the 

 perforated bottom. 



With the apparatus described, Dannevig believes that it will be possible 

 at a very small outlay to hatch millions of the floating eggs of the cod, 

 haddock, flounder, and other fish, and he is convinced that it is only by 

 artificial hatching that the inshore fisheries can be restored to, and main- 

 tained at, their original productiveness. 



From the results already gained there seems no escape from the 

 conclusion that we ought at one or more centres to establish hatching 

 stations. One might be erected for round and flat fish and another for 

 lobsters. From all we have recently learned as to the Forth, it seems to 

 be the favourite resort for five or six months of the year of young 

 haddocks and whitings. During last summer there was a large shoal of 

 haddocks from six to ten inches in length in the Forth. Of this school 

 the Buckhaven fishermen alone captured over 700,000. These haddocks 

 increased several inches in length during July and August, and in 

 September they left the Firth for the open sea. Probably they are now 

 spawning for the first time in the vicinity of the May, and their descend- 

 ants may by-and-by enter the Forth to share the food and protection it 

 now offers. By hatching annually millions of haddocks at Inchcolm, 

 North Berwick, Elie, or Inchkeith, the take of both large and small 

 haddocks in the Forth district might soon be at least doubled, and by in- 

 stituting a close time for lobsters, and forming lobster farms on some of 

 the western islands great benefits might be conferred on the inhabitants. 



The Cromarty Firth seems extremely well adapted for a large experi- 

 mental hatching station. At present the Firth contains extremely few 



