of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
395 
by Mr Ernest Holt, from St Andrews Marine Laboratory). Mr Green 
made inquiries as to the system of investigation pursued by the Scottish 
Fishery Board, and a plan similar to that followed during the past three 
years on board the * Garland ' was adopted. Physical observations were 
taken at each station ; the number and size of the fish captured, the pro- 
portion of males and females, the degree of maturity of the reproductive 
organs, and the contents of the stomach, were recorded on forms prepared 
for the purpose ; and collections of pelagic ova and larval fishes, and of 
the pelagic and bottom fauna were made. When the information thus 
acquired comes to be worked out, it will allow of a most valuable com- 
parison being made between the reproduction, food, &c. of the fishes, 
and of the biological and physical characters of the fishing grounds, on the 
west coast of Ireland, which adjoin a great ocean, and those on the east 
coast of Scotland, on the edge of a confined and shallow sea. In addition, 
drift nets for mackerel, &c., and long lines were employed, the vessel, 
unlike the * Garland,' being large enough to venture to some distance from 
shore. The extent of coast investigated last year waj? from Dursey Head 
in West Cork to Malin Head in Donegal, and Mr Green gives a general 
account of the various grounds visited. The results will be dealt with in 
subsequent scientific reports. Pelagic fish ova were found to be far more 
abundant in the open sea than in sheltered bays ; in the latter, larval 
Crustacea abounded, and experiments in a test tube showed that they de- 
voured the pelagic ova. Mr Green thinks it probable this may account 
for the scarcity of pelagic ova in the localities mentioned. It may, how- 
ever, be, as I showed in last year's Report in regard to the east coast of 
Scotland,* that the spawning grounds lie ofi'shore, their position depend- 
ing largely upon the physical conditions, especially the set and rate of 
surface currents, and the time which the ova take to hatch ; so that as 
the latter approach the shore, where they would be liable to being stranded 
and destroyed, the larvae escape, and few eggs are to be found. Immature 
specimens of the witch sole, the lemon sole, and other flat-fish, about an 
inch long, were got on the bottom of the deep sea. This agrees with the 
observations made in the ' Garland,' and shows that flat-fish nurseries are 
not limited to shallow inshore waters. 
The first instalment of the scientific results of this survey of the Irish 
fishing grounds has been recently given by Mr Ernest Holt in a valuable 
paper recently published,t those, namely, dealing with the eggs and larvae 
of teleostean food fishes. Among others the ova or larvae, or both, 
of the following are described, Trachinus vipei^a, gurnard ; Gohius niger^ 
dragonet ; Lepadogaster, hake, turbot, lemon dab, Pleuronedes cynoglossus^ 
sprat. A number of ova not identified are described and figured. 
At the present time a second expedition, under the direction of Mr 
Green, is busy on the west coast of Ireland. 
The Inspectors of Irish Fisheries recently held several inquiries into 
complaints made against beam and otter trawling at various parts of the 
Irish coast. In a report on their inquiries regarding the influence of 
trawling in Lough S willy, County Donegal, | the inspectors state that the 
substance of the allegations of the fishermen against trawling was — (1) 
that it is injurious to the fisheries of the bay generally, and has reduced 
the quantity of fish materially ; (2) that it destroys the spawn and 
spawning-beds of fi.sh ; (3) that it destroys large quantities of miniature 
* 'The Spawning and Spawning Places of Marine Food Fishes,' Eighth Ann. 
Eep. Fishery Board, part iii. p. 258, 1890. 
+ Scientific Trans. Roy. Dublin Soc, vol. iv. (ser. ii.) p. 435, 1891. 
t ' Report from the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries on an Application received by them 
' from certain Fishermen to make a Bye-law prohibiting Trawling in Lough Swilly, 
' County Donegal.' Dublin, 1889. 
