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Part III. — Fifteenth Annual Report 



VII. — REPORT ON THE PELAGIC OVA, LARVAE, AND YOUNG 

 FISHES PROCURED BY THE s.s. 'GARLAND' DURING 

 THE GREATER PART OF 1896. By Harry M. Kyle, M.A., 

 B.Sc, Berry Scholar, Gatty Marine Laboratory. University of St 

 Andrews. 



In this paper will be given a list of the ova, larvae, and young forms of 

 fishes collected in the Firth of Forth, Moray Firth, Firth of Clyde, and 

 Loch Fyne during the months February, March, April, May, August, 

 September and October 1896. These were taken by the * Garland,' and 

 forwarded to St Andrews preserved in spirit. The portions of the year 

 during which most hauls were taken, were April (46, from the 10th to 

 the 24th, on the Clyde and Loch Fyne) and in August and September 

 (34 in all, in Moray Firth). The ' Garland ' was on the east coast, at 

 Firth of Forth, for a short time only about the beginning of March, and 

 there is therefore very little to show for this period. But in former 

 years, the work had been carried on mostly in the east, and there is a 

 great store of facts in the Scottish Fishery Board Reports from which to 

 draw comparisons between the east and the west. 



The preservative fluid for the ova, etc., was an alcoholic solution of 

 camphor. (Formerly it was a 2 per cent, solution of acetic acid in 94 per 

 cent, methylated spirit.) This answered very well for the greater number, 

 but the ova in one or two of the bottles from the Moray Firth were 

 blackened and contracted so much as to be almost unrecognisable. This 

 may have been due, however, to some accident. The same happened to 

 two bottles from the west coast, but this was clearly traceable to bad 

 corks, which had allowed the spirit to evaporate. 



In spirit the ova contract considerably, but not all to the same extent, 

 and great difficulty is thus experienced in separating the eggs of some 

 forms from one another. The green cod, whiting, and poor cod are the 

 worst in this respect. The two last indeed, though distinguishable easily 

 enough in the fresh state are almost indistinguishable in spirit. In the 

 fresh state, the whiting ova are larger than those of the poor cod, but in 

 spirit the ova of the poor cod seem to vary greatly in the amount of 

 contraction, and the result is that the ova of the two forms overlap in 

 size. If the embryo is present in the egg, the poor cod is distinguishable 

 from the whiting by having more pigment, but if only the blastodisc is 

 seen it is impossible to separate the two forms completely. Again, the 

 green cod ova come in size between the whiting and poor cod, overlap- 

 ping both by variations from the average. They appear at an earlier 

 part of the year, however. It must be considered, therefore, that the 

 relative proportions of the poor cod and whiting, when both are present, 

 are only approximate in spirit sj)ecimens. As Mr Williamson said, in the 

 Thirteenth Scottish Fishery Board Report : — ' The presence of the 

 species recorded is certain ; the exact number of the ova of any one 

 species it is impossible to fix.' 



Where a very large number of ova were present in a bottle, acting upon 

 the advice of Professor MMntosh, the following method was taken. 

 Several lots of about a hundred each were counted out until the various 

 ova were considered to be all fairly represented. The proportions were 

 then counted, and also the total number of the eggs, as nearly as possible ; 

 then the total number of each species was got by multiplying. If some 

 such method be not taken, the counting of the ova in a bottle containing 



