10 



Part III. — Seventh Annual Bqport 



St Andrews Bay ; but long rough dabs, common dabs, and gurnards 

 spawn to at least a considerable extent in the inshore waters of the 

 Firth of Forth. From these investigations it appears : — (1) that 

 the territorial waters of the Firth of Forth, St Andrews Bay, and 

 the Moray Firth do not serve as spawning places, for either flat- 

 fish or round-fish, except to some extent in the case of long rough 

 dabs, common dabs, and gurnards in the Firth of Forth ; (2) that 

 shoals of plaice and haddock spawn in the offshore waters of the 

 East Coast ; (3) that the general absence of spawning fish from the 

 territorial waters on the East Coast appears to be due to their con- 

 gregation in the waters offshore as they reach maturity; (4) that 

 plaice appear to spawn in the Pentland Firth in inshore waters ; 

 (5) that plaice, cod, and haddock select among other places for 

 spawning the ground near the Bell Rock, the Smith Bank and other 

 portions of the Moray Firth. 



The Report is accompanied by a series of tables. 



The Pelagic Fauna of the Bay of St Andrews during the Months of 

 1889. — The first part of a long and elaborate Report on this subject 

 by Professor W. C. M'Intosh, F.R.S., will be found under Section 

 B. Many points arising from a systematic study of the pelagic 

 organisms have a close relation to fishery questions — as, for instance, 

 the presence of floating fish eggs and young fishes, the food of the 

 edible fishes in their larval and post-larval stages, &c. In this part 

 of his Report Professor M'Intosh, after referring to the method 

 adopted in the investigation, gives a separate' detailed account of 

 the pelagic organisms obtained during each month of the year in 

 the Bay of St Andrews. He then describes the various floating 

 fish eggs which were obtained, and also the larval and post-larval 

 forms of the food-fishes. One of the most interesting points 

 brought out is the gradual advent in the early part of the year of 

 the larval fishes, and their great abundance in March, April, and 

 May. After this the predominance of the post-larval types is the 

 main feature. Among others, the floating eggs of plaice, turbot, 

 sole, flounder, cod, and haddock were obtained ; while the larval 

 and post-larval forms of the food-fishes included those of the 

 turbot, brill, cod, and whiting. This Report is illustrated by four 

 plates. 



Some Additions to the Fauna of the Firth of Forth. — In this 

 Report Mr Thomas Scott describes a large number of marine 

 organisms, belonging to almost every group, not hitherto recorded 

 for the Firth of Forth. Some of the forms which Mr Scott dis- 

 covered have turned out to be new either to the East of Scotland 

 or to Britain. The fishes new to the Forth are the sail-fluke (Arno- 

 glossus rncyastoma), the greater fork beard (Phycis Ucnnoides), and 

 Lumjicnus lampetrceformis, which has also been found in the 

 stomachs of cod. 



Inquiries into the Supplies of iSait. 



Several of the papers deal with the question of bait for line 

 fishermen, a subject which has "recently and deservedly attracted 



