of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



27 



October. 



The stomachs examined in October numbered .115, and 74 of these 

 contained food. The length of the halibut examined ranged from 20 to 50 

 inches, but only a few were over 36 inches in length, and the food contents of the 

 larger did not differ in any marked degree from those of the smaller examples. 

 The contents of between fifty and sixty of the stomachs consisted for the 

 most part of Crustacea or of fish. Small cuttlefishes constituted the food of 

 about half-a-dozen stomachs, but in the remainder the contents were mixed 

 Crustacea and fish, with sometimes a small cuttlefish. The fishes that could 

 be distinguished by their earstones or otherwise were chiefly Gadoids 

 (haddock and whiting) and herrings ; the remains of a few flat-fishes were 

 also observed, but the species could not be determined. 



The Crustacea consisted largely of Nephrons norvegica, Munida bamffica, 

 and Eupagurus bernliardus ; several of the Nephrops were large, full-grown 

 specimens, measuring over all 8 inches to fully 9 inches in length. In one of 

 the stomachs examined twenty-one specimens of Munida, large and small, 

 were counted ; in another a nearly complete Geryon tridens occurred, but the 

 shell bore evidence of the solvent power of the gastric fluid ; while in a third 

 a tolerably large soft-shelled female Lithodes was obtained. A few specimens 

 of Hyas coarctatus and Portunus sp. were met with, while in one stomach, 

 containing a mixed lot of food, the contents consisted of Nephrops, small 

 fishes, and a number of tolerably large isopod parasites, Cirolana borealis, 

 which are not uncommon on Gadoids in the North Sea, and are described by 

 G. O. Sars as being among the most effective scavengers of the sea, and 

 also as doing injury to the fishes caught on the fishermen's lines when 

 not quickly removed. 



November. 



The number of stomachs examined in November was 101, and of these 53 

 contained food. Most of the halibut ranged from two to three feet in length, 

 but four or five of them measured four feet in length and three five feet. 



Crustacea {Portunus, Atelecyclus septemdentatus, Eupagurus sp., Nephrops, 

 and Munida), together with young fishes, formed the principal portion of 

 the food of smaller halibuts, but the food of the larger individuals consisted 

 chiefly of fishes. In the stomach of one of these larger examples the earstone 

 of a tolerably large hake was obtained ; the earstone measured 25 mm., and 

 the fish it belonged to could not, therefore, have been less than about 22 or 

 23 inches in length. For the purpose of comparison, it may be stated that 

 the length of the earstones of a hake 16 inches long measure nearly 17 mm., 

 and those of one 14i inches 16 mm.* Other fishes observed included a 

 whiting 1 1 inches long, partly digested ; a tolerably large codling, remains 

 of haddocks, a few long rough dabs, and sand-eels. One stomach contained 

 five small flat-fishes, the jaws of a cuttlefish, remains of Nephrops, and a few 

 parasitic Cirolana borealis. Another was full of hermit crabs (probably 

 Eupagurus bernhardus), while a third contained six or seven specimens of 

 Munida bamffica and a small stone. Seventeen of the stomachs contained 

 fish only, 13 contained Crustacea only, and the contents of other ten consisted 

 of a mixed lot of Crustacea and fish, including also the remains of small 

 cuttlefishes j while the food contents of three consisted of cuttlefishes only. 



December. 



The number of stomachs examined in December was 167, and 117 of these 

 contained food that could to some extent be identified. With the exception 

 of eleven, the food observed in these stomachs consisted entirely either of 

 * Twenty fourth Ann. Rept., Part III., p. 66 (1906). 



C 



