27 Part III. .—Twenty-erghth Annual Report 
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 afew 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 Vephrops norvegica, Munida bamffica, 
and Hupagurus bernhardus ; several of the Nephrops were large, full-grown 
specimens, measuring over all 8 inches to fully 9 inches in length. Inone 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, Hupagurus 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 jess 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 144 inches 16 mm.* Other fishes observed included a 
whiting 11 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 Vephrops, and a few 
parasitic Cirolana borealis. Another was full of hermit crabs (probably 
Eupagurus bernhardus), while a third contained six vr seven specimens of 
Munida bamfica 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 ; 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). 
