of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



101 



Table Showing the Ratio between the Numbers op Eggs 

 at Different Stages of Development. 



Stage. 



a 





7 



8 





Ratio 

 a to 

 (P + y + 



of 

 X 



8 + e). 



Ratio of 



(JL tO X 



for the five 

 stations. 



March. 



















Station I. 



174 



46 



32 



23 



6 



16 : 



1 





TT 



,, 11. 



1607 



mo 

 912 



609 



293 



185 



"8 : 



1 





„ HI. 



1287 



250 



146 



146 



112 



1-9 : 



1 



12:1 



IV. 



246 



72 



35 



13 



7 



1-9 : 



1 





„ V. 



1531 



600 



175 



54 



26 



17 : 



1 





April. 

 Station I. 



738 



193 



368 



173 



155 



•83 : 



1 





TT 

 ,, II. 



/78 



256 



799 



507 



960 



'3 : 



1 





„ III. 



447 



242 



262 



106 



93 



•6 : 



1 



•75 : 1 



IV. 



207 



158 



215 



43 



40 



•45 : 



1 





„ v. 



2028 



574 



307 



39 



34 



2 : 



1 





May. 

 Station I. 



573 



154 



176 



35 



11 



1-2 : 



1 





TT 



„ II. 



1 f\A 



194 



85 



1 OA 



134 



ZD 



OA 



34 



7 : 



1 



1 : 1 



„ HI- 



400 



86 



81 



38 



49 



1-7 : 



1 





„ IV. 



182 



44 



92 



42 



28 



•88 : 



1 





„ v. 



1056 



287 



676 



189 



38 



•88 : 



1 





June. 



















Station I. 



195 



30 



11 



1 





4-6 : 



1 





„ II. 



259 



86 



118 



10 



2 



1-2 : 



1 





„ HI. 



947 



482 



305 



25 



9 



11 : 



1 



•68 : 1 



„ iv. 



80 



56 



134 



81 



33 



"26 : 



1 





„ v. 



716 



496 



946 



303 



86 



•39 : 



1 





July. 

 Station L 



390 



46 



8 





2 



6-9 : 



1 





„ II- 



266 



30 



7 



1 





7 : 



1 



•93 : 1 



„ III. 



76 



35 



20 







1-3 : 



1 





iv. 



82 



48 



293 



40 



24 



•2 : 



1 





„ v. 



102 



69 



117 



37 



17 



•4 : 



1 





The above Table has been prepared showing the ratio between 

 the number of eggs in Stage a and the sum of the eggs in the remain- 

 ing four stages (x) for each station, and for all the stations in each 

 month. During March the ratio of a to x was 1*2 to 1 ; and on 

 every station but one this ratio exceeded 1. This indicates that at 

 the date in March when the experiments were carried out a large 

 number of fish had just commenced spawning, and the newly deposited 

 eggs exceeded in number those which had been spawned during 

 the previous two or three weeks, and which were still unhatched. 

 During the April trip the ratio was found to be less than 1 — viz., 

 •75 to 1. At this date, then, spawning had abated somewhat, and the 

 number of eggs which were being added to the water did not quite 

 equal those developing there. From the collections made in May it 

 is seen that spawning had again increased, and the ratio borne by a 

 to x equalled 1. In June there was a decrease in the number of 

 newly spawned eggs ; but in July they again nearly equalled in number 

 the eggs at other stages of development. A comparatively small 

 number of eggs were obtained in February, and of these the ratio of 

 a to x = '7 to 1 . The standard by which these different months are 



