of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



189 



Going ashore on a Sunday morning in the trawler's boat we observed a 

 number of boys running to the beach in the harbour and picking up stones 

 commence to throw them into the water. It at first appeared as if the 

 action was meant for us, because the feeling against trawlers is very 

 strong in the locality, and we were relieved to find the boys were 

 attacking a large angler which had got into the shallow water and was 

 floundering about there. It was pulled out by the tail and killed ; it 

 measured nearly three feet. 



There appears to be, at least in the Firth of Forth, a migration of 

 young anglers in summer. During the early months of the year they are 

 very scarce, but increase very considerably in numbers with the advancing 

 season and increase of temperature. 



II. Rate of Growth. 



The information concerning the rate of growth of the angler is 

 somewhat scanty, although it is sufficient to enable some conclusions to 

 be drawn. The first thing to be considered is the period of spawning. 

 Ripe males have come under observation earlier than ripe females. On 

 3rd November a male, thirty-two inches long, caught oft" Ijossiemouth in 

 the Moray Firth, was quite ripe. On 20th and 24th December two quite 

 ripe males were trawled in Burghead Bay, in from seven to fifteen 

 fathoms, a few miles from shore ; one was twenty-seven and the other 

 twenty-three inches in length. In May one was taken on Smith Bank 

 also ripe, and thirty-six inches long. Holt found a ripe one in March, 

 twenty-five inches long, taken in 115 fathoms.* Females apparently 

 almost ripe, with very large ovaries, were taken in February on the East 

 Coast, and others approaching ripeness. On May 25th one was caught 

 nearly ripe, and on 7th July one, of thirty-six inches, that was approach- 

 ing ripeness, the ovaries being more than seventeen feet in length. On 

 3rd November, in the Moray Firth, a female of thirty-five inches was 

 about half-developed. On 1 8th January, off the Caithness coast, in from 

 eighteen to twenty-five fathoms, one of thirty-three inches was approach- 

 ing ripeness. Holt found a spent female, of thirty inches, in June, and 

 one of forty inches, also spent, in March. 



The floating mucoid band in which the eggs are imbedded has been 

 obtained in June, July, and August.t One was got in the trawl on 

 1st August in from 8-12 fathoms in Aberdeen Bay, the only instance of 

 the kind that came under my notice during the trawling investigations ; 

 but, from enquiries, I think such instances are not uncommon, although 

 the trawlers do not recognise that the substance is fish-spawn. 



The mucoid substance was perfectly clear, transparent, and glairy, the 

 eggs being readily detected by the black pigment of the advanced 

 embryos and the conspicuous oil-globules. As in other cases where the 

 spawn has been found, the embryos were far advanced ; some, indeed, had 

 already hatched. Part of the mass was kept in tanks at the Laboratory, 

 and within a few days all the eggs hatched out. Some of the larvae were 

 kept alive until 18th August, long after the yolk had disappeared, and 

 drawings and preparations were made ; but they all gradually died off, 

 evidently from starvation, although unfiltered water was used and tow- 

 nettings added. Besides the dense black characteristic pigment, there 

 was, it may be said here, much bright canary yellow, and in the older 

 specimens the rudiment of the fourth ray of the first dorsal was formed. 

 The little posfc-larval angler, about 10 mm. long, has a very odd appearance 



* Rep. Council Ron. Dublin Soc, 1891, p. 245. 

 t The eggs and embryo described by*^Prince in the Ninih Annual Report^ p. 343, from 

 Dunbar, were procured at the beginning of July, not in February. 



