of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



17 



and that there is no regularity in the direction, as in the case of 

 the plaice. Particulars in regard to other marked and recaptured 

 fish are given, and also the information obtained from the experi- 

 ments as to the rate of growth of food fishes. 



The important subject of the rate of growth of fishes is also dealt 

 with by Mr Charles Williamson, M. A., B.Sc, the Fisheries (Woodall) 

 Prizeman of St Andrews University, the investigation having been 

 made by the aid of specimens preserved at the Marine Laboratory 

 and the University Museum, St Andrews. Large numbers of fish 

 of different sizes have been measured, and their age, and therefore 

 their rate of growth, calculated from what we know of their spawn- 

 ing period. Mr Williamson gives particulars regarding the common 

 dab, gurnard, ling, wolf-fish, and lemon dab, and discusses the re- 

 sults of similar investigations made by Mr J. T. Cunningham at 

 the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association. 



The Pelagic Fauna and Food of Fishes. 



In the present Report several papers will be found dealing with 

 the distribution and nature of the pelagic fauna and food of fishes. 



' The Pelagic Fauna of St Andrews Bay.' — Professor M'Intosh, 

 F.R.S., describes his investigations, extending over several years, 

 on the distribution of the pelagic fauna. 



In the spring of 1889 myriads of larval and post-larval herrings 

 filled St Andrews Bay, coming probably from the mouth of the 

 Firth of Forth, as it is many years since herring eggs were dis- 

 covered at the once famous spawning-ground at the Old Hake, 

 where Lord Play fair and Professor Allman carefully investigated 

 them. The young of certain fishes not usually encountered in the 

 pelagic fauna occur at certain definite seasons, as pipe-fish and eels, 

 and if the weather in the early part of May be warm, young Pleuro- 

 nectiols — such as plaice^flounders, and dabs — come in great numbers 

 to the surface of the water. Professor MTntosh refers to the pig- 

 mentation which exists in the embryos in pelagic eggs of almost 

 all species of food fishes, as being an important factor in leading to 

 their destruction by fishes, and mentions the case of a herring 

 which was found to contain thirty such eggs, belonging to different 

 species. He also describes the occurrence of various species of 

 molluscs, annelids, and Crustacea in different seasons. The paper is 

 accompanied by a large number of tables which show the distri- 

 bution of the fauna at the various stations in the different months 

 of the year. 



Additions to the Fauna of the Firth of Forth. — In connection 

 with the inquiries on the distribution of the organisms which form 

 the food of fishes, Mr Thomas Scott, F.L.S., has for a series of years 

 carried on special investigations into the fauna of the Firth of 

 Forth, and in the present Report gives his fifth contribution to 

 the subject. Before these investigations were begun by Mr Scott, 

 the number of species of Crustacea which had been found in the 

 Firth of Forth was only about 120, while now upwards of 400 

 have been described. In the present paper 26 species of Crustacea 

 are described, 8 of these being new to science, and most of the 



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