of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 26 
Months when the Total number Number with Number empty, 
of Stomachs or with food 
Stomachs were | examined each | *04.that could) that could not 
month. be determined. 
—_— EE O——————————eeeeeeeeeeeeeeesSCO O&F}ea=caaoaeee ee): 0 oo 
| September 1909} 21 stomachs} 12 stomachs 9 empty 
4 
October geld vag - 74 2 | athonhe 
November ,, | 101 a 53 f AS Fs 
December __,, 167 ss 117 us at age 
January 1910} 91 = 59 zi = ae 
Hepruary. ,,. | 160.2"... I wifi. (Oy gee 
March - 83 68 a es ene 
April ey ee one 84 ée AM 
May ss 95 A, CGrrs, aL estes 
June | ao, 62 i Seas 
ae eer ee. LORY 95, dnd ¢,, 362, 
It will be observed from the preceding table that the total number of 
halibut stomachs examined was 1076, and of these 362 (about 33:7 per cent.) 
were empty, or the nature of the contents could not be determined, while 
the remaining 714 contained food which consisted of organisms that could at 
least to some extent be identified. 
It will also be observed that during the several months the proportion of 
empty stomachs differed sometimes considerably ; this difference, however, 
may not be due to natural causes. Sometimes it could be explained by the 
fact that some of the stomachs available for examination were those of ‘‘ welled 
fish” —fish which had been on the ship for a number of days, and kept alive ina 
tank fitted up for the purpose in the ship’s hold ; any food, therefore, the 
stomach may have contained would be more or less completely digested by 
the time they were brought to the market. Sometimes also the food may 
have consisted of only soft-bodied organisms, such as cuttlefishes, which are 
quickly reduced to unrecognisable pulp; in other cases, the only evidence 
that the fish had recently been feeding was the presence in the intestine of 
partially eroded otoliths, or other less digestible substances. 
In comparing the food contents of the stomachs examined from month to 
month, slight differences in the constituents of the food have also been 
observed. For a while crustacea, especially such forms as hermit crabs 
(Hupagurus) and Nephrops, were of frequent occurrence, but in the latter 
months, 2.e., from March onwards, crustacea have not been so often met 
with ; while on the other hand, Gadoids, such as haddocks and whitings, 
but other fishes as well, have constituted the principal part of the food, and 
sometimes was the only kind observed. 
In the following summarised statement a description of the food observed 
in the stomachs during each of the ten months from September 1909 to 
June 1910 inclusive, is given. 
September 1909. 
Twenty-one halibut stomachs were examined in September, and of these 
12 contained food that could be identified. The food in one of them consisted 
of fragments of Spatangus purpurea and Fusus, that of another consisted of 
starfish discs and arms. In a third the food consisted of remains of fish and 
a Decapod crustacean, while the contents of the others consisted entirely of 
fishes, among which were the remains of haddocks and whitings and a fairly 
large herring. 
