of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 



371 



the two now recorded from the same station was picked up at Purkb'en, 

 Nordland, Norway, on 22nd April 1897, and the other at the extreme 

 northern point of Norway, viz., at the North Cape, on 29th May in the 

 same year; the respective intervals being 266 and 312 days. The 

 distance to the North Cape is about 900 geographical miles, and the rate 

 of drift was about 2*9 knots per day. Of the floats thrown in on 4th 

 August 1896, in lat. 61° 18| N. and long. 4° 21 \ W., one was recovered 

 after a short interval at Shetland ; another was obtained on 3rd August 

 1897, or exactly a year later, at Rodo, in Helgoland, Norway. Of those 

 set adrift in lat. 60° 2' N., long. 7° 4' W., on 6th August, 1896 five were 

 recovered, two at Shetland, and, still earlier, three on the coast of 

 Norway. Of the two since obtained, one was got at Veiholmen, Romsdal, 

 Norway, on 4th November 1897 (after an interval of 455 days), and the 

 other on 14th March 1898, jit Mousa, Shetland, where it had doubtless 

 been stranded long before. 



By the aid of Mr. R. Duthie, Fishery Officer, a number of other 

 bottles were set adrift on the 17th January 1897, from the s.s. St. Giles, 

 at distances of 50 and 100 miles S.S.W. of Bressay Light, Shetland. Of 

 the former lot (ten in number) three were recovered on the coast of 

 Norway, in October and November 1897, and February 1898. One of 

 these was found at Ingoen, Finmarken, near the North Cape, after an 

 interval of 297 days ; the distance is about 800 miles, and the rate of 

 drift in this instance is about 2*7 knots per 24 hours. Four of the ten 

 set adrift at the second place were also recovered — one, after 240 days, 

 near the Skaw, Denmark ; another, after 241 days, near Christiansand, 

 S. Norway; the third, after 310 days, also near Christiansand, and the 

 fourth, on 5th February 1898, still further to the north-east, near Kragero, 

 S. Norway. 



Of those set adrift further south, one has been returned to me after the 

 long interval of five years (1840 days) ; it was thrown into the sea eight 

 miles off Buchan Ness, Aberdeenshire, on 5th November 1894, and 

 found on Froya, near Trondhjem, Norway, on the 20th November 1899. 

 It had no doubt been lying there for years, because of other four of the 

 20 bottles set adrift at the same time which were recovered, three were 

 picked up in December 1894, two near Trondhjem, and one at 

 Brandesund, near Bergen ; the fourth was found at the Fro Islands, also 

 near Trondhjem, in December 1895. It is curious that all of them were 

 got in the months of November or December. Another bottle, put away 

 in the Moray Firth on 2nd August 1895, was found on 17th December 

 1899, after an interval of 1597 days, at Mandal, in the south of Norway. 

 Other two of the same lot (ten in number) were picked up in the same 

 locality in November 1895. 



In many cases the results of the experiments illustrate in a marked 

 manner the views expressed in my previous paper, as to the general 

 direction of the surface-currents in the North Sea ; and they show the 

 necessity of conducting such observations with a large number of floats. 

 For instance, of twenty bottles set adrift on 22nd July 1896, ten at the 

 Bell Rock Lighthouse, and ten 10J miles S.E. of Bervie, Kincardineshire, 

 three were recovered on the Norwegian coast; one on 1st April 1897 

 (after 252 days), sonth of Stavanger, one on 15th May 1897 (after 297 

 days) , near Bergen, and one at Engel Island, Nordland (very much 

 further to the north), on 1st November 1897, after 467 days. These 

 facts taken alone would point to a movement northwards from the region 

 where the bottles were set adrift. But the previous records show that 

 the bottles first of all moved south along the east coast of this country, 

 because others were found on the coast of Fife and East Lothian a few 

 weeks after they had been sent on their journey, and one on the coast^of 



