of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



17 



may with some probability be granted racial distinction ; while the 

 remaining characters do not prove such differentiation. 



The Fishes of the Firth of Clyde. 



Mr. T. Scott furnishes in the present Eeport a list of the fishes 

 which have been found within the limits of the Firth of Clyde, 

 the information being derived from the investigations of the 

 Garland and from several other sources. The number of species 

 comprised in the list is 113, but the recorded occurrence of one 

 or two of those appears to the author to be somewhat doubtful, and 

 in the case of one or two other species, though their presence in 

 the Clyde seems to be fairly well attested, further information is 

 desirable. By the use of fine-meshed nets on the Garland, it has 

 been shown that some forms, such as the Argentine and Lumpenus, 

 which were previonsly considered to be rare, are not uncommon in 

 certain localities. 



The Surface-Currents of the North Sea. 



In the Fifteenth Annual Eeport a description was given of the 

 experiments made for the purpose of determining the direction and 

 rate of the currents in the North Sea, with reference specially to 

 the transport of the pelagic eggs and larvae of fishes. Similar 

 experiments have since been undertaken in the English Channel 

 and neighbourhood by the Marine Biological Association, and 

 also by the Belgian authorities. In the present Eeport a 

 further statement is given by Dr. Wemyss Fulton of the results 

 derived from a study of the additional drift floats, amounting to 

 132, which have been recovered at later dates since the time 

 mentioned. They were found on the coasts of Schleswig, Den- 

 mark, Sweden, and Norway, to as far north as the North Cape, the 

 extreme point of Norway, and extending over 17 degrees of 

 latitude. 



The results confirm the conclusion previously reached that the 

 current passes southwards along the east coasts of Scotland and 

 England as far as the Wash, and then passes over to the Schleswig 

 and Danish coasts and northwards to the Skagerack and the 

 western coast of Norway. 



The Natural History of the Plaice. 



In this Eeport will be found a paper by Mr. H. M, Kyle dealing 

 with certain problems connected with the natural history of the 

 plaice. The research has been conducted by means of a large 

 number of specimens from various parts of the North Sea, and it 

 was specially directed to discover the variations and variability of 

 the species. With respect to the average size of the plaice when 

 first mature, it appears that in the southern part of the North Sea 

 the female plaice first reaches maturity at a size between thirteen 

 and fourteen inches, while the males reach maturity when between 

 ten and eleven inches in length. In the northern part of the North 



B 



