54 



Part III. — Twenty-Jirst Annual Report 



further down the east coast of Scotland. Two specimens are stated to 

 have been procured in St. Andrews Bay, and also pelagic eggs believed 

 to belong to this species,* but no specimen appears to have been ever 

 found in the Firth of Forth, notwithstanding the close examination of 

 that area, although three single eggs from the Forth — in March, April, 

 and Augvist — have been described as belonging to this species.t It is 

 stated by Cunningham to be common on the eastern grounds in the 

 North Sea and the Brown Ridges, and Petersen describes it as occa- 

 sionally occurring in Danish waters within the Skaw.+ It is also 

 fairly common on the south and west coasts of this country, and was 

 frequently taken by the " Garland " in the Clyde. It appears, however, 

 to be about as abundant in the Moray Firth as in the Clyde, and the 

 peculiarity of its distribution on the East Coast is noteworthy. Those on 

 the northern part of the East Coast, as the Moray Firth, may have 

 spread from the west around the north coast of Scotland. The largest 

 noted by me measured 138 mm. (5^ inches). 



Black or Common Sole {Solea vulgaris). 



This fish is rare on the East Coast, and its rarity increases as one goes 

 north. In the course of the investigations seven specimens were 

 procured, three in Aberdeen Bay and four in the Moray Firth. One 

 was taken in June, two in October, two in November, one in December, 

 and one in February. The " Garland," in 308 hauls in the Moray 

 Firth, procured two black soles, while further south, in St. Andrews 

 Bay and the Firth of Forth, twenty- three were taken in about a 

 thousand hauls. It is much more common on the West Coast. 



Cod {Gadus callarias). 



Cod, either adult or young, or both, were taken in most hauls of the 

 net both inshore and offshore at all seasons, but usually not abundantly, 

 unless there was a special cause for their congregation together. The 

 proportion between the adult cod and the codlings, and between the 

 marketable (or large) and the unmarketable (or small) codlings, however, 

 varied very much. 



The total number of cod and codling taken in Aberdeen Bay in the 

 hauls with the otter-trawl in the course of the investigations was 1841, 

 of which 471 were cod, 1084 marketable codling, and 286 unmarketable 

 codling. In the Moray Firth the aggregate number was 5059, 1767 

 being adult cod, 2337 marketable codling, and 955 unmarketable 

 codling. ^ 



The averages for each class per hour's fishing in each of the months 

 in the two areas are as follows : — 



* M'Intosh and Masterman, op. ext., p. 398. 

 t Twelfth Ann. Rep., Part III., pp. 298, 299 ; ibid., Fourteenth, p. 226. 

 X Report of the Danish Biol. Station, iv., p. 46. 



[Table 



