198 



Part III. — Twenty-first Annual Report 



cent., lesser weever ; two, or 1*5 per cent., Norway pout ; and two, or 1-5 

 per cent., Lumpenus. Among flat-fishes, common dabs numbered 

 eighteen, or 31 per cent. ; solenettes seven, or 12-1 per cent.; long rough 

 dabs six, or 10-4 per cent. ; plaice two, or 3*4 per cent. ; flounders three, 

 or 5-2 per cent. ; and witches one, or 2 per cent. The percentage of 

 each species of the total species identified is as follows : — 



Codling. 



Haddock. 



Whiting. 



Gurnard. 



Herring. 



Is 



Sand-eel. 



Pogge. 



Lesser Weever. 



Norway Pout. 



Lumpenus. 



Plaice. 



1 Common Dab. 



Solenette. 



be 



H 



G 

 O 



Witch. 



Flounder. 



1 



in 



4-4 



131 



247 



2-2 



5-7 



1-5 



14-5 



2-2 



0-7 



1-5 



1-5 



1-4 



13-1 



5-1 



4-3 



0-7 



2-2 



0-7 



It thus appears that, so far as the anglers investigated are concerned, 

 the principal food consisted of whitings, sand-eels, haddocks, and common 

 dabs, and in smaller amount of herrings, solenettes, and others. The 

 Table, however, shows that the proportions differ on the different grounds, 

 and at different seasons. In Aberdeen Bay and the Moray Firth whitings 

 and common dabs formed the staple diet, and then haddocks ; no codlings 

 were distinguished in the 382 stomachs from these localities. In the 

 deep water off the Shetlands haddocks appear to form a more important 

 constituent than whitings, and among flat-fishes common dabs and long 

 rough dabs. On the offshore grounds, also, codlings enter more largely 

 into the diet of the angler. 



The proportion of sand-eels, herrings, and solenettes is surprisingly 

 large. Herrings were got in three months, July, September, and Decem- 

 ber, and it is probable from the abundance of this fish at the bottom at 

 certain times that it forms a fair proportion of the food of the angler. 

 Sand-eels were got only in two months, namely in July in Aberdeen Bay 

 and in November in the Moray Firth. It forms a larger part of the food 

 of predaceous fishes than might be expected. The number found in single 

 stomachs of anglers varied from one or two to twenty-three. The 

 solenette was only procured in the stomachs of anglers taken in the 

 Moray Firth in July, when they seem to be abundant in the 

 inshore waters there. Its small size enables it to escape from the 

 trawl-net as a rule, but it is occasionally taken, and more commonly in 

 August than in July. The presence of Lumpenus, found in the stomachs 

 of an angler from the Forth in July and another from the deep water in 

 September, probably indicates a greater abundance of this form than is 

 commonly supposed. In both cases the anglers were small, viz. nine 

 inches and nine-and-a-half inches; one had two, and the Lumpenus 

 measured 8^, 8|, and 9| inches long, or about as long as the anglers. 

 The small anglers, indeed, capture fishes sometimes of considerable size. 

 Thus, one a little over six inches had swallowed a round-fish 4| inches 

 long ; one of seven inches a haddock of six-and-a-half inches ; one of 

 eight-and-a-half inches a round-fish of six-and-three-quarter inches ; and 

 other small anglers had gulped flat-fishes of four inches. At stages much 

 younger than any observed they must evidently be capable of swallowing 

 fishes of a size proportionally large compared with their own. The young 

 anglers got off Caithness had been feeding on sand-eels. One angler of 

 ek'ven-and-three-quarter inches had twenty-three in its stomach. 



I have already tated that Ihe great majority of the fishes found in the 



