of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



13 



of the adults and growing fish, which is in the opposite, or 

 northerly, direction. 



The easterly surface drift from the neighbourhood of the 

 Dogger Bank also tends to explain the enormous aggregation of 

 immature flat-fishes in the great bight between the north coast of 

 Holland and the coast of Denmark. The southerly drift is not im- 

 probably related to the movements of the herring shoals during 

 summer and autumn, but the connection has not yet been thoroughly 

 investigated. 



The Life-Histories and Development of the Food Fishes. 



In the present Eeport, Professor M'Intosh describes the life- p. 194. 

 histories of the cod, haddock, and whiting from very early stages. 

 It is shown that, while the spawning grounds of the cod are off- 

 shore, the eggs and larva? are wafted inshore, or that the post- 

 larval stage is attained in the former region, the young fish moving 

 shorewards subsequently, when from about half an inch to three- 

 quarters of an inch in length. During June and July they frequent 

 the shallow rock-pools at ebb-tide in company with the green-cod or 

 saithe, and as they grow older many of them pass outwards again 

 to the off-shore waters. Young haddocks have a different distribu- 

 tion from the young cod, and are found in the deeper water at a 

 distance from shore, as appears also to be the case with the younger 

 stages of the whiting. The appearance and diagnostic characters 

 of the various stages, which have frequently been difficult to dis- 

 tinguish in the past, are described very fully and are illustrated 

 by a series of figures. 



The Distribution of Pelagic Eggs. 



Mr A. T. Masterman furnishes a review of the work done by p. 219. 

 the ' Garland ' in connection with the distribution of the pelagic 

 eggs of food fishes in the years 1890-1896, with special refer- 

 ence to the determination of the spawning areas and seasons of 

 the various species and the direction taken by the eggs after they 

 are shed. The observations made in the Firth of Forth and St 

 Andrews Bay throughout the above period are brought together 

 and compared, lists being furnished of the principal species dealt 

 with. The more important conclusions drawn from the study of the 

 distribution of the pelagic eggs agree with those previously derived 

 from the investigations into the distribution of spawning adults, 

 namely, the season at which the various species spawn, and the 

 place where the eggs are shed. It is shown that the more valuable 

 forms, such as the cod, haddock, plaice, coal-fish, turbot and ling, 

 spawn outside the three-mile limit, the floating eggs appearing first 

 at the seaward stations and being gradually drifted in ; on the 

 other hand, less important species, such as the gurnard, flounder, 

 and dabs spawn within the limit as well as beyond it, and the sprat 

 spawns principally within the limits of the Firth of Forth. 



