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Part III, — Thirteenth, Annual Report 



II.— THE INLAND WATERS OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 

 By Thomas Scott, F.L.S., and Kobert Duthie, Fishery Officer. 

 (Plate Y.) 



No systematic attempt has hitherto been made to investigate the 

 microfauna of the lochs of Shetland. Much has, no doubt, been 

 written on various matters of interest, including the natural history 

 and antiquities relating to these islands, but the references to their 

 natural history have usually been confined to the Vertebrata among the 

 animals and to the Phanerogamia and higher Cryptogamia among plants ; 

 while the investigation of the microfauna of the lochs of Shetland, as 

 well as of their microflora, has very seldom, if ever, been taken up as a 

 systematic study. This attempt to make a more or less thorough examina- 

 tion of the lochs of Shetland may therefore be of interest. 



There is another thing we desire to draw attention to in these preliminary 

 remarks. It is well known that many of the Shetland lochs, though 

 comparatively of small size, are good lochs for trout, but it may not be so 

 well known that one of the greatest enemies to the trout inhabiting 

 these lochs is the cormorant. But it is the case that, in the more shallow 

 lochs, where there is little aquatic vegetation, such as the pond weeds, 

 rushes, sedges, etc., where trout can find at the same time shelter and 

 food, the poor fish are sorely persecuted by these feathered pirates. It is a 

 fact, as will be shown in the sequel, that the absence of trout in some of the 

 smaller lochs of Shetland is almost entirely due to the incessant persecu- 

 tion by these marauding birds, and not to unfavourable natural condi- 

 tions. 



In the following notes we will show that in most of the lochs that 

 have already been examined, there is an ample food supply for trout, 

 and that what is wanted is protection for the fish by encouraging the 

 cultivation of aquatic plants of the kinds already mentioned, under 

 shelter of which the fish may find safety from their persecutors. 



We have divided our paper into two sections. In Section L, Mr 

 Duthie gives a general description of the lochs that have been examined, 

 and which form the subject of the present memoir. In Section II., Mr 

 Scott records the names of the various kinds of organisms that have 

 been obtained and identified in the gatherings collected from the different 

 lochs, together with notes on some of the more interesting species. 



There is also a table appended giving a general view of the distribu- 

 tion of the species that have been identified. 



We propose to describe the lochs in the following order : — 



First. — The Lochs on the Island of Unst. 



Loch of Whatley. 

 Loch of Stourhoull. 

 Loch of Snarravoe. 



Loch of Cliff. 



Loch of Belmont. 

 Small Loch of Uyasound. 

 Large Loch of Uyasound. 

 Small Waters of Unst. 



Second. — Lochs on the 



Island of Whalsay. 



Loch of Sandwick. 

 Loch of Huxter. 



Loch of Livister. 

 Bu Water. 



Third. — Lochs on 



the Mainland. 



Loch of Brindister. 

 Loch of Quarlf. 



North Loch (off Clikimin). 

 Loch of Clikimin. 



