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A
‘@ PROCEEDINGS
AND
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY, -
VOR. XVitl:
SESSION 1902-1908.
LIVERPOOL:
C, Tinuinc & Co., Printers, 53, Vicroria STREET,
ESOOro',
CONTENTS.
I.—PRoOcEEDINGS.
Office-bearers and Council, 1902-1908 . |
Report of the Council . ;
Summary of Proceedings at the Meetings
Laws of the Society
List of Members .
Librarian’s Report (with list of additions. to Tipe
Treasurer’s Balance Sheet .
II.—TRANSACTIONS.
Presidential Address—‘‘ Acquired Differences in
Structure and Function between the Right and
Left Sides of the Body.” By Ricarp Caron,
MED. R.C.P. . di.
Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bical Marine
Biological Committee and their Biological Station
at Port Erin. By Prof. W. A. Herpmay, D.Sc.,
F.R.S.
A Marine Chironomid (Clunio bicolor, Kieff), new to
the Fauna of Great Britain. By A. D. Iuus
Report on the Investigations carried on during 1902,
in connection with the Lancashire fea Fisheries
Laboratory, at University College, Liverpool, and
the Sea Fisheries Hatchery at Piel, near Barrow.
By erot. W.- A. Herpman, D.Sc., F.R.S
_ Anprew Scorr, A.L.S., and James JoHNsTonE,
B.Sc. .
PAGE,
Vil.
Vill.
1X.
XV.
xx
XXIV.
XXX.
15
81
87
iv. LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
PAGE.
“ Patella’? (L.M.B.C. Memoir No. X.). By Prof:
J. R. AtinswortH Davts and H. J. Fueure, B.Se. 1938
Notes on the Classification and Geographical Distri-
bution of the Cephalochorda. By Water M.
TaTTERSALL, B.Sc... : : . aoe
Observations on the Habits of the Onuphide
(Polycheta), and on the internal structures
with which they fortify their homes. By
Arnotp T. Watson, F.L.S. : : k - es
St. Kilda and its Birds. By J. Wieatesworrn, M.D.,
F.R.C.P. 319
\
| sa PROCEED INGS |
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.
OFFICE-BEARERS AND COUNCIL.
Gx- Presidents :
1886—87 Pror. W. MITCHELL BANKS, M.D., F.R.C.S.
1887—88 J. J. DRYSDALE, M.D.
1888—89 Pror. W. A. HERDMAN, D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
1889—90 Pror. W. A. HERDMAN, D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
1890—91 T. J. MOORE, C.M.Z.S.
1891—92 T. J. MOORE, C.M.Z.S.
1892—93 ALFRED O. WALKER, J.P., F.L.S.
18983—94 JOHN NEWTON, M.R.C.S.
1894—95 Pror. F. GOTCH, M.A., F.R.S.
1895—96 Pror. R. J. HARVEY GIBSON, M.A.
1896-—97 HENRY O. FORBES, LL.D.; F.Z.S.
1897—98 ISAAC C. THOMPSON, F.L.S., F.R.M.S.
1898—99 Pror. C. 8S. SHERRINGTON, M.D., F.R.S.
1899—1900 J. WIGLESWORTH, M.D., F.R.C.P.
1900—1901 Pror. PATERSON, M.D., M.R.C.S.
1901—1902 HENRY C. BEASLEY.
SESSION XVIL, 1902-1903.
Preswent ;
R. CATON, M.D., F.R.C.P.
Vice- Presidents :
HHNRY C. BEASLEY.
Pror. W. A. HERDMAN, D.Sc., F.R.S.
Bon, Creasurer :
T. C. RYLEY.
Hon. Librarian :
JAMES JOHNSTONE, B.Sc.
Hon. Secretary:
JOSEPH A. CLUBB, M.Sc. (Vicr.).
Council :
Pror. CAMPBELL BROWN, D.8c.'| JOHN NEWTON, M.R.C.S.
W. J. HALLS. _ Pror. PATERSON, M.D.,
W. HANNA, M.A., M.B. | NM. BCLS.
W.S. LAVEROCK, M.A., B.Sc. | H.C. ROBINSON.
Rey. T. 8. LEA, M.A. | I. C. THOMPSON, F.L.S.
ALFRED LEICESTER. | J. WIGLESWORTH, M.D.,
JOSEPH LOMAS, F.G.S8. | F.R.C.P.
REPORT of the COUNCIL.
Derinc the Session 1902-1905 there have been seven
ordinary meetings and one field meeting of the Society.
The latter was held at Martin Mere, near Southport, and
was a joint meeting with the Liverpool Geological Society.
The communications made to the Society have been
representative of almost all branches of Biology and the
exhibition of microscopic preparations and other objects
of interest has been well maintained at the meetings.
By invitation of the Council, Dr. Traquair, Keeper of
the Natural History Department, Science and Art
Museum, Hdinburgh, lectured on June 12th on “ The
Karliest Records of Vertebrate Life.” Special invitations
were issued, and a large and representative audience
assembled.
The Library continues to make satisfactory progress,
and additional important exchanges have been arranged
during the year.
The Treasurer’s statement and balance sheet are
appended. |
No alterations have been made in the Laws of the
Society during the past session, but a new Bye-law (see
page xix.) has been added, forming an Associate
Membership.
The members at present on the roll are as follows :—
Honorary. Members,...:.0... 5 e.g 8
Ordinary Memibers<}.. sic... dis cits me 52
Student: Members «.2:...:.2:1,..s tee 26
SUMMARY of PROCEEDINGS at the MEETINGS.
The first meeting of the seventeenth session was held at
University College on Friday, October 17th, 1902.
_ The President-elect (Dr. Caton) took the chair in the
Zoology Theatre.
1.
The Report of the Council on the Session 1901-1902
(see). Proceedings,” Vol. XVI., p. vill.) was
submitted and adopted.
The Treasurer's Balance Sheet for the Session 1901-
1902 (see “ Proceedings,’ Vol. XVI., p. xxxi.). was
submitted and approved.
The Librarian’s Report (see ‘ Proceedings,’ Vol.
XVI., p. xxi.) was submitted and approved.
The following Office-bearers and Council for the
ensuing Session were elected :—Vice-Presidents,
Henry C. Beasley and Professor Herdman, D.Sc.,
Henwos eiion. ‘Treasurer, VT. C. Ryley; Hon.
ian, James Johnstone, B.Sc.; Hon. Secretary,
Joseph A. Clubb, M.Sc. ; ee cil: Prof. Campbell
Brown, D.Sc., W. J. Halls, W. Hanna, M.A., M.B.,
Rey. T. S. Lea, M.A., W. S. Laverock, M.A., B.Sc.,
Alfred Leicester, Joseph Lomas, F.G.8., John
Newton, M.R.C.S., Prof. ‘Paterson, M.D., M.R.C.S.,
H. C. Robinson, I. C. Thompson, F.L.S., and J.
Wiglesworth, M.D., F.R.C.P.
0. Dr. Caton delivered the Presidential Address, entitled
“ Acquired Differences in Structure and Function
between the Right and Left Sides of the Body ”
(see “ Transactions,” p. 1). A vote of thanks was
proposed by Prof. Herdman, seconded by Dr.
Newton, and carried with acclamation.
X. LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
The second meeting of the sevent2enth session was held
at University College, on Friday, November 14th, 1902.
The President in the chair.
1. Prof. Herdman submitted the Annual Report on
the work of the Liverpool Marme Biology
Committee and the Port Krin Biological Station
(see ‘‘ Transactions,’ p. 15).
2. Prof. Herdman, F.R.S., gave a lecture on his recent
expedition to Ceylon, and of the Pearl Oyster
Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. His remarks
were illustrated by a fine series of lantern slides,
many of which were prepared from original
photographs. ‘The typical scenes, natives, indus-
tries, methods of pearl fishing, and many
interesting incidents of the expedition were
depicted.
The third meeting of the seventeenth session was held
at University College, on Friday, December 12th, 1902.
The President in the chair.
1. A paper on a marine Chironomid, new to Britain,
by Mr. A. D. Imms, was laid on the table (see
“Transactions,” p. 81).
2. Dr. J. Wiglesworth gave a lecture on “St. Kilda
and its Birds,” being an account of a recent visit
to the island (see “ Transactions,’ p, 319).
The fourth meeting of the seventeenth session was held
at University College, on Friday, January 9th, 1903.
The President in the chair.
SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS.
Le
a
00L BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY
~~
ABSTRACT OF INAUGURAL ADDRESS
ON
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES IN STRUCTURE AND
FUNCTION BETWEEN THE RIGHT AND
LEFT SIDES OF THE BODY.*
By RICHARD CATON, M.D., F.R.C.P., PRESIDENT.
(17th October, 1902. |
I wish to express to the Society my sincere thanks for
the honour they have conferred upon me in electing me
President, a post for which I feel myself but very im-
perfectly qualified. Possessing only a meagre acquaintance
with purely Zoological subjects, I propose to select a topic
bearing on human and comparative physiology, one which
while possessing considerable interest, has not yet been
fully dealt with by any writer, namely :—Acquired
differences in Structure and Function between the right
and left sides of the body, in animals having originally
bi-lateral symmetry. I propose to mention a few
examples of acquired asymmetry, to consider the
antiquity of these examples, to discuss their causes, and
the question whether the asymmetry is beneficial or
otherwise.
Abundant examples of acquired asymmetry occur among
the Mollusca. Typically the Molluscs had symmetrical
“The Paper was illustrated by 30 Lantern Slides,
4 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
hemisomes, but among those species which occupy
helicoid wnivalve shells, marked asymmetry has
developed. The majority of the Lamellibranchs and the
Gastropods possess shells which have acted as a shield
or protection to the soft tissues, but which re-acting
upon them have produced diversity between the two
hemisomes. The modification appears to be very ancient.
Among the highest class of Molluscs, the Cephalopoda,
remarkable asymmetry appears in the male, in hectoco-
tylisation, a modification of one of the arms to contain the
generative products. The antiquity of hectocotylisation in.
geological time appears to be very great. Passing on to
Crustaceans we find in Pagurids, the hermit crabs, a
moulding of the body into non-symmetrical form to fit
the helicoid shell of a Mollusc, a consequent shrinking
of the chela adjacent to the shell and an increased
erowth of that more remote from it. The case is very
similar to that of the mollusc. ,
Among the Crustaceans there are also certain crabs,
such as Gelasimus pugilator, in which, in the male, one
claw is a great deal larger than the other; according to
Yarkes, of Harvard, the right claw is the larger in 52
per cent. of examples, while in 48 per cent. the augmenta-
tion is in the left; he finds that the right clawed or right
handed crabs are larger than the left handed ones, and
less variable also. The same phenomenon is seen in
Gelasimus maracoant and in G. vocans, the calling crab
(so named from its habit of beckoning with the big claw),
in Cardisoma and many others; among the prawns also
as in Avius stirhynchus and Callianassa subterranea. The
possession of one large and powerful claw may make the
male animal more formidable than would the possession
of two of more moderate size. As to the antiquity of this
acquired peculiarity | have no information.
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES. 5
Passing on to Vertebrates we find a striking example
among fishes inthe case of the Pleuronectide, where in
some species the right half of the body, in other the left,
has assumed a singular superiority over the other. The
fish which originally had its dorsal surface upwards and
its ventral downwards has turned on its side, developed
pigment on what becomes its upper surface and lost it
on the lower, and by a peculiar twist of the skull the
mouth is brought chiefly to the under side and the visual
terminals to the upper. In these fishes the modification
may havei been due to some geological change in the sea-
bed, rendering a bottom habit more advantageous, or to
some change either in the food sought or in the enemies
avoided, which rendered the bottom habit beneficial.
They are found fully developed as far back as the Miocene
period.
I, personally, am ignorant of any conspicuous example
of asymmetry among Amphibians or Reptiles, and among
the Birds they appear to be few. Many birds sleep
habitually standing on one leg, but so far as I know (and
in this I am supported by the more extensive observations
of Dr. William Ogle”), these birds use the right and the
left leg indifferently. In the Cockatoo and Parrot tribe,
however, there is a preference for the one side; these
birds have developed marked prehensile power in the leg,
and, for example, in opening a nut, the bird usually
stands on the right leg and holds the nut in its left.
The great majority prefer to stand on the right leg,
but a few use the left, while holding an object in the
other claw.
In Mammalia structure and function are usually
symmetrical, but there are exceptions. | Where the
extremities are used for the simple purposes of support
** Med. Chir. Trans., Vol. liv.
fj TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
and progression, we should naturally expect no differ-
ence in functional activity between the two sides, but,
uevertheless, there is some evidence that the right fore
and hind legs in the ox, the sheep, and the horse are
heavier than those on the left side. In cantering the
horse leads off with the right foot; kicking, however,
seems to be done quite impartially with right and left;
the evidence as regards the preponderance of one side in
these animals is as yet, however, inconclusive. Among
the Rodents a French naturalist has described definite
right-handedness, but I have been unable to obtain the
reference. Among Squirrels, Marmots, the Jerboa, the
Mouse, and the Rat, I have been unable to satisfy myself
that there is any distinct preferential use of either side.
Among Carnivora, and especially the Felide, the
specialised uses of the anterior mb are considerable,
thus far, however, in none of them have I seen clear proof
of right-handedness. The Bear uses his upper limb for
many purposes, but after observing about half a dozen
with seme care I have failed to discover any preference
in the use of the one limb. The Quadrumana shew very
marked right-handedness; I have tested a large number
of individuals and find them nearly all right-handed, and
other observers, as, for example, Dr. W. Ogle,* has noted
the same. I have had no evidence of a preferential use
of the right hind limb.
It is in the human species that right-handedness is
most pronounced. In fact, both right arm and right leg
are somewhat larger and more muscular than the left.
According to Ogle a little over ninety-five per cent. of
English people are right-handed, and nearly five per cent.
left-handed. Left-handedness is much more frequent in
the male than in the female. Preferential use of the
* Loc. cit.
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES. 4
right eye also, commonly accompanies right-handedness,
though not always. The right eye and its associated
nerve mechanism has usually a higher functional activity
than the left, as those who use the telescope or microscope
know, as also do the rifle- and artillery-man; not only
the power of seeing, but that of observing appears more
developed in the right-sided organ.
So far as my experience goes, the senses of touch,
taste, smell, and also hearing (apart from its speech
relations) are not one-sided. I have tested them in great
numbers of persons. Man is not only right-handed, the
lower Limb participates in the right-sidedness as almost
any football player will testify.
As nearly all sensory and motor nerve fibres decussate,
it follows that the left brain is associated with the
preferential use of the right side; we should consequently
expect to find the left hemisphere differing slightly from
the right. I think I am correct in stating that, as a rule,
the arrangement of convolutions in the anterior tobe of
the left hemisphere in a well-developed brain, 1s more
complex than on the right. Moreover, there is no doubt
that the faculty of conveying ideas to others by phonetic,
visible, or written signs, has developed in man almost
exclusively in the third left inferior frontal convolution.
And not only does outgoing language such as speech or
writing proceed from nerve centres in the left hemisphere,
but also those incoming messages which we are con-
stantly receiving by eye and ear; the faculty of com-
prehending objects presented to the senses also resides
usually in the left hemisphere. You and I know that
the object I have in my hands at this moment 1s an
inkstand, because in each of us there exists a memory stored
in the cells of the angular and supra-marginal gyri of the
left brain of inkstands previously seen. Suppose the
8 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
gyri or the white matter beneath them were destroyed
or in any way thrown out of function, then, though you or
I might see the object, we should not know what it was,
because we should have no recollection of having seen
the object or of its use. The condition is called mind-
blindness. In a similar way mind-deafness arises from
destruction of the superior and transverse temporal con-
volutions on the left side. A perfectly familiar word
addressed to us would in that case be heard, but would
convey no meaning. In fact, we right-handed people
have got all these memories, the result of a lifetime of
observation and reflection, stored in certain parts of our
left brain. There is considerable evidence that the left
hemisphere is shghtly heavier than the right (vdé the
observations of Dr. Boyd* and of Brocat); Charlton
Bastian{ also found the specific gravity of the grey
matter on the left side higher than that of the right.
The speech centre convolutions are usually much more
developed on the left side than on the right, while in
left-handed men the reverse exists.
The right-sidedness of man has no doubt been increased
by artificial means; the child is always taught to use the
right hand in writing, drawing, in shaking hands and in
many other ways. So far as I have been able to discover
right-handedness is the rule with all the races of man-
kind. It is an interesting question how long this
condition has existed. Linguistic evidence shews it +o
be ancient, the curious association of the dexter hand
with intellectual and moral qualities, its symbolism of
that which is good, clever, favourable, or happy, occurs
* Phil. Trans. Roy. Socy., 1861.
+ Quoted by Bateman, Jour. Mental Science, Oct. 1869.
+ Lancet, July 8, 1871.
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES. 4
in many languages, while the left has opposite associa-
tions. The Latin word sinister has a very definite conno-
tation both in Latin and English. The words scevus and
leve meant left, incorrect, wrong. Among the Greeks
defies meant right, that which is good, clever, skilful,
while cxaros and apiorepos meant left, auguring evil, that
which is rude, foolish, awkward, even wicked. Right-
handedness is mentioned by Aristotle and Hippocrates ;
but we can trace 1+ much further back. In ancient
Hgyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian Art the pen, the
brush, the tool and the weapon are almost always depicted
as being carried in the right hand. We may conclude
that civilised man has been right-handed for at least
6,000 years.
The question of cause is also interesting. Among the
molluses and crustaceans and probably in the pleuronec-
tide, asymmetry has probably followed from an accidental
variation, which benefitted the animal by protecting it
or rendering the acquisition of food more easy. Being
the fittest in its competition with others, it has survived.
But how about the asymmetry in parrots, monkeys, apes
and man? Dr. Ogle believes the parrot tribe owe their
one-sidedness to extra blood supplied to the left brain.
He tells us that usually the brain 1s supplied by only one
vessel and that generally goes to the left side. He (as
also Dr. Wyeth, of New York*) applies this blood supply
theory also to the case of the Quadrumana and Man, he
believes that the left carotid artery is usually larger than
the right, and also that the blood stream entering the
left carotid meets with fewer angles in its course than
that of the right. Against this view it may be objected
that it is not proven that the left is any larger, and the
difference in angle is trivial, nor do the carotids
* Annals of Anat, and Surg. Socy. of Brooklyn, 1880,
10 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
present any peculiarity of arrangement in left-handed
people. |
The theory of M. Acquille Combe* suggests that the
foetus in utero rests with its left side pressing against the
maternal spinal column, that the pressure interferes with
muscle development on the left side. If the foetus chances
to rest in the opposite position the right side is pressed
upon and the individual becomes eventually left-handed.
An ingenious hypothesis, but it does not cover the cases
of the parrots nor of the invertebrates.
Professor G. V. Pooret attributes right-handedness
to the extra weight of the viscera on the left side of the
thorax in man and some other vertebrates. Professor
Struthers,} on the other hand, points out that the viscera
of thorax and abdomen combined are in man from fifteen
to twenty ounces heavier on the right side than the left.
He considers this extra weight on the right side has
produced a greater development of the right leg, and as
a consequence (though I fail to see why) of the nght arm
also.
A fourth theory regards right-handedness simply as the
result of habit founded on accidental variation, whieh
has become a permanent condition through aftording
certain advantages in the way of protection, etc. In other
words we bring it under the same law as the asymmetry
of the invertebrates. Dr. Pye Smith has an ingenious
hypothesis (improving upon that of Bichat|) regarding
the detailed mode of the production of this habit in man.
He thinks that as man is and always has been a combative
animal, whose method of fighting, until quite recent times,
* Journal de Physiologie. + Lancet, 10th April, 1897.
+ Ed. Med. Journal, 1863, and Lancet, 17th April, 1897.
“| Guy’s Hosp. Reports, 1871, p. 141.
| ‘ua Vie et la Mort,’
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES. i!
involved the use of the shield in one hand and spear or
sword in the other, he found by experience that wounds
on the left thorax, where the heart les, were more fatal
than those on the right, consequently he learnt to hold
his shield on the left side and this led to a more active
use of the right arm and hand in the wielding of offensive
weapons. ‘The condition thus established we may parallel
with that of the Molluse or the hermit crab; Pagurus
earries his shield or shell on one side and fights with his
hypertrophied limb on the other side. I confess this last
view seems to me preferable to those which seek an
explanation in extra blood flow, in uterine position, or
in visceral weight. Hither by the preferred use of
weapons in the right hand, or by some other determining
cause, man certainly at an early period selected lis dexter
hand, and when later he began to draw, to sculpture stone
or wood, or to inscribe word-symbols he continued to use
his right hand and thus fixed the memory of objects or
symbols in that part of his left pee whence
proceeded the motor impulses.
But before he began to write he had been able to speak
and to understand speech; why did the physical sub-
stratum of incoming and outgoing speech processes fix
itself in the left hemisphere? It is hard to say, unless
we suppose that already righthandedness had established
a pre-eminent functional activity in the left brain.
Now we come to the final point: Is the pre-eminent
functional activity of the left brain, which in one way
or other has been established in the human race, still
continuing to be beneficial to man, or is it the contrary ?
The question, to my mind, is one of much difficulty and
seriousness. In the case of every other paired organ the
functions of right and left seem to be identical, as we see
in the lungs, kidneys, sexual structures, sense organs ot
12 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCTETY.
taste, smell, hearing, touch, heat perception, etc., and in
numerous glands. One of the advantages of a duplicate
organ lies in the fact that if the one be injured the other
remains to discharge its function; it is thus with the
lung, the kidney, the glands and sense organs referred to.
The man who loses one eye may be very thankful that it
is not the single pineal eye of an early period of living
things, of which he has been deprived, and that he can
fall back upon the other one of the pair. The Brain alone
in man has now departed from the observance of this
great law. While the functions of its right and left
halves remain the same in certain important respects,
such as motion and tactile sensibility, the treasury of
memory as to objects seen and word symbols heard, the
faculty whereby we communicate with our fellows, the
hard earned products of education, are almost exclusively
stored in the left hemisphere: should any accident happen
to certain parts of that important structure the unhappy
individual loses the power of speech, the power of under-
standing speech and written language, he may even lose
the recognition of the objects and the persons around him,
and the memory of his past life. It seems unwise that we
should keep, so to speak, all our intellectual eggs in
one basket, when we are provided with two of these
marvellously constructed organs. Having these two brain
hemispheres, does it not seem probable that we lose much
by only educating one?
We don’t know much at present about the function of
those parts of the right brain which correspond to the
important organs in the left, of which I have spoken;
they are probably potential language and memory centres,
dormant as regards function. Would it be possible to
educate them, to locate the language faculty, motor and
sensory on both sides’ If this were pessible the
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES. a le
advantages would be great both as regards security from
loss and the probable gain in intellectual energy. There
is strong evidence that in young persons the destruction
of the speech centre in the left hemisphere, while causing
loss of the faculty for a time, may be recovered from by
the education of the right centre. A case is recorded in
which this occurred, and when the centre on the right,
which had thus been educated, was, by a strange and
lamentable chance itself destroyed, the speech faculty
vanished finally. Im middle and advanced hfe recovery
of the faculty does not occur. We know that left handed
people can be made by education almost ambidexterous,
but we don’t know yet whether or not in such persons the
speech and thought centres develop on both sides; it is
quite possible that they do.
These facts render it likely that our present condition
as left brained people, while to a large extent fixed by the
influence of a long heredity, is not absolute and in-
evitable; it seems possible that if mankind paid more
attention to the right hemisphere by using and training
the left hand and eye and by practising the art of
writing and drawing with the left hand, we might greatly
augment the nerve energy, the power of memory and the
intellectual faculty generally of our race, while at the
same time lessening the risk which attends over use and
over strain of one organ, and also providing a duplicate
nerve mechanism as a sort of insurance against the
accident of disease.
Unhappily the influence of education and of educators
is at present in the main thrown into the other scale.
This question is a large, and, I think, a highly important
one; it is one on which, in the present stage of knowledge,
I do not like to dogmatise too strongly; I leave it for your
consideration.
=
discursive and rambling address.
14
to Professor Herdman, to Dr. Forbes, Buckdad 7 8)
ton, Mr. Clubb and Dr. Grunbaum for help»
kindly given me, and especially to yourselves. fe
patience with which you have listened to 2a
15
THE NEW BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN.
BEING THE
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGY COMMITTEE.
Tuts Report, which records the completion and occupation
of the new buildings at Port Hrin, opens a fresh period in
the history of the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee,
and so gives a fitting opportunity to summarise past work,
take stock of results attained, and discuss some future
plans and aims.
Brier History or tHE L.M.B.C.
The lIiverpool Marine Biology Committee was
constituted in March, 1885, at a public gathering of the
local Naturalists from Liverpool, Manchester, Southport,
Chester, and the neighbourhood, summoned by Professor
Herdman to meet at University College for the purpose.
The declared objects were “to investigate the Marine
Fauna and Flora (and any related subject such as sub-
marine geology and the physical condition of the water) of
Liverpool Bay and the neighbouring parts of the Irish Sea,
and, if practicable, to establish and maintain a Biological
Station on some convenient part of the coast.” These ends
have been kept steadily in view for the last seventeen
years.
At an early stage of the investigation it became
evident that a Biological Station or Laboratory on the sea-
C
16 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
shore nearer the usual collecting grounds than Liverpool
would be a material assistance in the work. Consequently
in 1887 the Committee established a small Biological
Station on Puffin Island, off the north coast of Anglesey,
and during the next five years this laboratory was kept up,
and constant dredging and other exploring expeditions
were carried on, as the result of which the three first
illustrated volumes of Reports (“ Fauna of Liverpool Bay,”
Vols. I. to IIT.) were published. The Puffin Island Station
was very useful for a time, as our earlier annual reports
abundantly show, and besides serving to educate some of
our senior students and stimulate the local naturalists, it
supplied material to a considerable number of specialists,
and gave scientific results which were published in the
volumes on the Fauna. It came, however, in time to be
felt. by the Committee that a station in a spot more readily
accessible from Liverpool, and not so wholly isolated,
would enable the specialists to do more work, and be of
more use to students and investigators generally. It was
also becoming evident that after five years’ work on the
shores of the small island (fig. 1), the greater number of
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 17.
the plants and animals had been collected and examined,
and that a change to a new locality with a richer fauna
and a more extended and varied line of coast would yield
an increase of material for faunistic work.
Consequently in 1892, after a preliminary investi-
gation of the south end of the Isle of Man, and
encouraged by a most cordial invitation from the
Natural History and Antiquarian Society of the
Fic. 2. The old Biological Station at Port Erin—end view of
Laboratory.
Island, the centre of the L.M.B.C. field work was trans-
ferred from Anglesey to the Isle of Man—“ from the Mona
of Tacitus to the Mona of Cesar.” Here a small three-
roomed biological station (fig. 2) was built on the northern
side of Port Erin Bay, and was formally opened for work
on June 4th by Sir Spencer Walpole, the Governor of the
Jsland. Our Sixth Annual Report (December, 1892)
‘18 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
contains a full account of the opening and the subsequent
proceedings. Since that time the Port Erin Station has
been conducted without a hitch, and with increasing
success, each Annual Report showing fresh work under-
taken and further results achieved. In March, 1893, a
second building was added to the Station (fig. 5) in order
to supply the necessary aquarium tanks for observational
and experimental work, and also to enable the public to
see something of the wonderful variety and interest of life
in the ocean and on the sea-shore. Then followed in a
year or two sea-fish hatching, which was undertaken at
first on a small scale in the basement, in order to show
what could be done in that direction with our local fish
and the water of the bay. Later on experimental work
with oysters was carried on by Professors Herdman and
Boyce, which led to the publication of a Memoir on the
subject. Two additional volumes of the “ Fauna” (LY.
and V.) ‘have since been issued, and a new form of publica-
tion, the L.M.B:C. Memoirs, has been started, of which
Numbers I. to [X. have now appeared. Ten Annual
Reports (the sixth to the fifteenth inclusive) deal with this
period, and show, latterly, how inadequate the accommoda-
tion has been to the number of workers and the amount of
research carried on.
The alliance between a Committee appointed by the
Manx Government and the L.M.B.C., which has resulted
in the provision of a much larger Biological Staition on a
better site at the southern side of Port Erin Bay, had its
origin in the sea-fisheries work carried out on an
experimental scale in the old station for the purpose
of obtaining information for the Lancashire Sea-
Tisheries Committee. In 1898 an Industries Commis-
sion, presided over by the Lord Bishop, recommended that
in the interests of the insular fishing industries the
°
ayium.
th Aqu
ion, wi
al Stat
ic
oO
to)
Front view of old Biolo
WiG. 3:
20 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Government should promote practical fisheries investi-
gations, and for that purpose establish a_ closer
connection with the authorities of the Port Erin Biological
Station. A Committee of the Tynwald Court, appointed
on 21st May, 1901, met at Port Erin under the Chairman-
ship of His Honour the Deemster Kneen, on June 16th,
took evidence, examined sites, conferred with representa-
tives of the L.M.B.C., and reported in favour of erecting a
combined Biological Station, Aquarium, and Fish
Hatchery upon a site near the base of the breakwater, and
recommended to the Tynwald Court on J uly 12th that a
grant of £2,000 be made for the erection of the building,
and that an annual sum of £200 be voted towards main-
tenance. They also recommended that a Committee ‘be
appointed to make arrangements with the Harbour Board
as to the site for the necessary buildings and tanks, and
also with the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee as to
the management of the Hatchery and the use and control
of the Laboratory and Aquarium. The Tynwald Court
adopted the report, granted. the necessary sums, and
appointed a Hatchery Committee to take charge of the
Manx portion of the institution.
The further business details of the arrangement
concluded between the Hatchery Committee and’ the
L.M.B.C. were given in our last Annual Report
(p. 20), and need not be repeaied. It may suffice
to say that the two Committees have worked
most harmoniously together, and will no doubt continue
to co-operate cordially and usefully. Of the three depart-
ments in the institution, the Laboratory block will be —
wholly under the control of the L.M.B.C., the Hatchery
block will belong solely to the Manx Committee, and the
Aquarium in the centre will be managed as a joint concern
in the interests of both the scientific and economic work.
hl att a te el
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT BRIN. 21
The Curator of the old Biological Station (Mr. H. C.
Chadwick) has become Curator of the whole institution,
with a practical fisherman assistant (Mr. T. N. Cregeen)
under him, and the Hon. Director and Chairman of the
L.M.B.C. is recognised as being Director also of the
Hatchery. This should secure unity of aim and economy
of working, and will result in the various departments
being mutually helpful. The fishery work will be instruc-
tive to the scientific students, and the investigations in the
Laboratory and experiments in the Aquarium will be
useful in connection with fishery problems. The
Aquarium, which, with its museum of local marine
animals and plants in the gallery, occupies the large
central block of the building, is the only part open to the
public, and will, it is hoped, be useful alike—
(1) To the scientific workers in the laboratory,
(2) For experiments and observations bearing on
fishery questions and practice, and
(3) As an educational influence which will be appre-
ciated by the more intelligent visitors, and may, it is
hoped, be taken advantage of by local schools for instruc-
tion in nature study. ‘The Committee have already
received an application from Mr. Walter R. Teare, of
Arbory School, for permission to make use of the institu-
tion for this purpose.
DESCRIPTION OF THE NEw BroLoGicaL STATION.
The plans of the new building were in the first place
drawn up by the Hon. Director, and, after being submitted
to both the L.M.B.C. and the Hatchery Committee, were
placed in the hands of Mr. Carine, who acted as architect
to the Committee, for detailed treatment and the prepara-
tion of specifications. The drawings for the internal
fittings were made by Mr. Chadwick from Prof. Herdman’s
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MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 93
rough sketches. The tender of a local firm of builders,
Messrs. McArd & Moore, was aceepted, and the contracts
for the work signed in October, 1901; and the foundations
of the building and excavation for the large fish pond
were commenced on November 4th. The outside of the
building was completed by Kaster, but the special fittings
of the Aquarium and Hatchery and the installation of
engine, pumps and sea-water pipes caused some delay, so
that the institution was not ready for occupation until
July. Mr. Chadwick finished moving the L.M.B.C. effects
Fig. 5. Port Hrin Bay and Biological Station.
from the old station to the new on July 12th, and our first
student workers occupied benches in the laboratory
during August.
The chart of Port Erin Bay, given as fig. 4,
shows in square C.4, under the name “suggested
hatchery,” the approximate site, but not quite the exact
shape of the building. Figure 5 shows the general
surroundings of the institution, placed at the base of the
cliff, close to the shore, and not far from the ruined break-
water which is a conspicuous feature in all views of the
94 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
entrance to Port Erin Bay. The larger view (fig. 6)
shows the front elevation as a plain but substantial two- .
storied stone building of nearly 100 feet in length by over
40 feet in breadth, with a hght railing in front and a
large yard, enclosed by a wall, behind. At the western
end (see fig. 7) is a large pond excavated in the rock,
measuring about 90 feet in length, nearly 50 feet in
Fic 6. The New Biological Station.
breadth, varying from 3 to 10 feet in depth, and capable
of containing about 130,000 gallons of sea-water.
The following description of the building was drawn
up by Mr. Chadwick from the building plans (see figs. 8
and 9) :—
The new building, the erection of which was begun
on November 4th, 1901, consists of a centre block and two
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. . 25
wings two storeys in height, and has a frontage of 90 feet.
The stone of which it is built is of good quality, and was
quarried on the spot. The outside and principal partition
walls are 18 inches in thickness, and are everywhere lined
inside with a wainscotting of varnished pine wood, which
gives the interior of the building a light and pleasing
appearance. ‘The entrance hall is situated in the middle
Fic. 7. Western end of Station showing Spawning Pond
and Hatchery entrance.
of the centre block, and is 10 feet long by 6 feet wide. On
either side of it is a small but fairly lofty room, that on
the left being for the use of the Director and Committee,
while that on the right is the Curator’s laboratory, and
has a door with enquiry window opening into it from the
hall. At the further end of the latter a wide double door,
26 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
with glazed panels, opens into the Aquarium, a spacious
and lofty apartment, measuring 30 feet by 30 feet, open
to the roof and well lighted by large skylights. The floor
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of the Aquarium is of concrete. ‘The south, east and west
walls are occupied by nine concrete tanks, the largest of
which measures 7 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet, and occupies
the centre of the south wall. The tanks on either side of
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 27
this measure 6 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet, while those on the
east and west walls are of the same depth and width, but
only 4 feet 8 inches in length. The fronts of all the tanks
are of 1 inch plate glass. Windows in the south wall
admit light into the three larger tanks and the two nearest
to them on the east and west walls, while the four remain-
ing ones are lighted from the roof, and are provided also
with artificial hight for use when necessary.
The Aquarium opens into the Laboratory and
Hatchery wings by side doors. The door near the
north-east corncor (fig. 10) affords access to the
ground floor of the east wing (L.M.B.C. Laboratories),
which is 30 feet long and nearly 26 feet wide.
Along the centre runs a passage 4 feet 6 inches wide, with
a fireplace at the further end. The space between this
passage and the north wall, the six windows of which
command picturesque views of Port Erin Bay and Bradda
Head, is divided into six workrooms, each of which
“measures about 5 feet wide by 10 feet long. Hach room is
furnished with a worktable fixed beneath the window, a
side bench with sink, and sea-water and fresh-water taps,
a drawer beneath the worktable, and ample shelving. The
worktables and side benches are made of Canary white-
wood, 1din. in thickness. On the south side of the passage
proceeding from the Aquarium are (1) a room for the
storage of re-agents and glassware, (2) a dark room for °
photography, and (3) the library and writing room, with
a small collection of standard works on Marine Biology.
A passage, 3 feet wide, leading to a door in the south wall,
divides the library from a small room provided with a
large sink, benches and shelving, in which the preliminary
examination and sorting of specimens obtained by shore
collecting and dredging can be carried on in addition to
the general work of the laboratory.
D
28 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
The west wing constitutes the Fish Hatchery, access
to which is obtained through a door exactly opposite that
opening from the Aquarium into the Laboratory. The
dimensions are the same as those of the east wing, and the
ground floor is of concrete. Along the north or front wall
are ranged a series of eight hatching tanks, each of which
contains a set of ten hatching boxes, of the pattern devised
by Captain Dannevig, of Norway, and similar to those used
by the Scottish Fishery Board and the Lancashire Sea-
Fisheries Committee. Floor space for four additional
tanks has been reserved along the south wall, the remain-
ing space being occupied by a concrete tank built on the
floor and measuring 10 feet by 54 feet by 3 feet. A door
in the west wall affords access from the Hatchery to the
spawning pond, to be described below, while a wide double
door in the south wall opens into a passage, on the left of
which are a storeroom and lavatory, and on the right the
engine room and pump chamber. The engine is one of
Crossley Bros. well-known gas engines, and is of 3 horse-
power. The pump is of the three-throw vertical type,
built by the same firm, and is capable of raising 4,000
gallons of water per hour.
Returning now to the Aquarium, a spiral staircase
of iron at the north-east corner (fig. 10) affords
access to a spacious gallery, lighted from above and
by windows in the north and south walls. Around the
edge an ornamental balustrade of wood supports a series of
glazed desk cases for the exhibition of museum specimens.
Along the south wall is a bench of Canary white-wood,
with cupboards beneath for the storage of herbarium and
other specimens. Ample shelving accommodation for the
exhibition of spirit and dried specimens has been provided
around the walls, while the front side of the gallery forms
an apartment measuring 30 feet in length by over 10 feet
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 29
in width, and lit by six windows facing north, which
might, if required, be screened off as additional space for
workers. |
Doors immediately above those already described as
opening from the ground floor of the Aquarium into the
east and west wings open from the gallery into the upper
floors of the two wings, and another smaller door in the
west wall opens into a cloakroom reserved for the use of
women students. It is intended to establish apparatus for
Fic. 10. Entrance from Aquarium to the Laboratories.
the hatching and culture of fresh-water fish on the upper
floor of the west wing; while the upper floor of the east
wing constitutes the junior laboratory, and is furnished
with an open bench, and other work-tables, sinks, water
taps, &e., and will serve for the accommodation of at least
a dozen students. This room contains a firegrate, and
having a large open floor area can be used for the
occasional delivery of lectures by the Director and others.
30 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
At a distance of 20 feet from the west end of the build-
ing is a large pond, excavated from the rock, 90 feet long
by 50 feet wide, and having a maximum depth along the
north side of about 10 feet. This is divided by a partition
wall and sluice, and will be stocked with spawning fish,
and used also for other purposes. aan
27 4) 20... $26 21 , =" ee
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22, 6 30 — . 2a
24 5 37 13 . Je 9)
25 2 9 — . — Bee
27 11 90 10 . az
MARINE BIOLOGICAJ STATION AT PORT ERIN.
The totals are as follows :—
Number of days fishing ... 42
ss lines shoiye » 2 400
me baited hooks ... 120,000
a Cod caught ... me ... 93,130
a Haddock caugh ee ah 188
ie Conger a irks ah 118
4 Skate a Ha aa 309
Total number of fish caught... srg) OU 4O
Hensen’s Large Vertical Net for collecting Plankton.
67
68 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
APPENDIX C.
EASTER CLASS FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS.
This subject has been referred to in former Reports,
and now that the new buildings afford the necessary
accommodation, the L.M.B.C. has, in consultation with
the Nature-Study Association of Teachers in Liverpool,
drawn up the following circular : —
SPECIAL CLass IN Marine Broxtocy, or Narursr-Stupy,
FOR ScHooL TEACHERS, TO BE HELD AT PoRT
Erin, IstzE or Man, DURING THE FHASTER
Houipays, 1903.
The Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, in response
to a demand, is willing to make arrangements for a
special class in Elementary Marine Biology, to illustrate
the principles of nature-study, and to be held at the Port
Kirin Biological Station during the Easter holidays, 1903.
The Station is a new building situated on the sea-shore,
and is admirably adapted in every respect for classes of
this description. )
A large laboratory on the first floor, provided with
fourteen windows, will be set aside wholly for this purpose
during the time of the class. Hach member of the class
will occupy a table or workplace opposite a window, and
will be provided with the necessary animals (or when
possible, and as is much better, will be shown how to
collect them himself), salt and fresh water, and all
materials and apparatus necessary for the work.
The course is necessarily restricted to the Master
holidays, and will therefore extend from Saturday, April
10th to Saturday, April 17th. If, however, any are able
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 69
and willing to stay longer, further arrangements can be
made at the time.
The class will be limited to twelve students, each of
whom will pay 6s. to the L.M.B.C. for the use of the
laboratory, and in addition a tuition fee of 10s. These
fees should be remitted to Mr. Cole before the opening of
the class. No definite time table of the class work can be
drawn up, and the time and nature of the work will
depend largely on the tides, weather, &c. Speaking
generally, however, the class will spend the morning in
the laboratory, examining animals in the living condition,
and making simple biological experiments thereon.
In the afternoons collecting excursions, with the object of
studying the animals in thei natural surroundings, and
also expeditions for collecting and dredging from boats,
will be organised and led by members of the L.M.B.C.
At other times short addresses and demonstrations in the
aquarium and museum will be given by Prof. Herdman,
Mr. Chadwick and others. No previous knowledge will
be supposed. The class work will be directed by Mr. VP.
J. Cole, Lecturer and Demonstrator of Zoology, University
College, Liverpool.
The Treasurer of the L.M.bB.C. wishes to point out that,
as the charge is at about one half the usual rate for accom-
modation, it must be regarded as a special charge for this
eceasion, and for a class of not less than twelve, and will
not apply to single students or at other times.
Hach member of the class must be provided with a
large drawing-book, pencils and india-rubber and a duster
or small towel. All further apparatus, as follows—
enamelled dissecting dishes, with wax at the bottom,
several crystallising dishes and watch glasses, microscope
slides and cover-glasses, dipping tubes, some simple dis-
secting instruments, a powerful hand lens, occasional
70 | TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
microscopes, and collecting jars, will be lent, without
charge, by the L.M.B.C., to the students.
If the student wishes to take away any animals for
examination at home, bottles, tubes and methylated spirit
and other preservatives can be bought from the Station
stock on application to the Curator.
Any further details may be arranged, and questions
asked, before the class commences, by correspondence
with Mr, F. J. Cole, University College, Liverpool.
/ fi BOs
| Ay
Stages in the Life-History of the Shore Crab.
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 71
APPENDIX JD.
THE LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGY
COMMITTEE (1902).
Hits Excertency Lorp Racuan, Governor of the Isle of
Man.
Mr. R. D. Darsisuire, B.A., F.G.S., Manchester.
Pror. R. J. Harvey Gizson, M.A., F.L.S., Liverpool.
Pror. W. A. Herpman, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.L.S., Liverpool,
Chairman of the L.M.B.C., and Hon. Director of the
Biological Station.
Mr. W. E. Hoyt, M.A., Owens College, Manchester.
Mr. P. M. C. Kermopr, Secy., Nat. Hist. Soc., Ramsey,
Isle-of-Man.
Mr. A. LetcestEr, Liverpool.
Sir James Poote, J.P., Liverpool.
Dr. Isaac Roserts, F.R.S., formerly of Liverpool.
Mr. I. C. Tuompson, F.L.S., Liverpool, Hon. Treasurer.
Mr. A. O. Warxer, F.L.S., J.P., formerly of Chester.
Mr. Arnotp T. Watson, F.L.S., Sheffield.
Curator of the Station—Mr. H. C. Cuapwick.
Assistant—Mr. T. N. CREGEEN.
—_—
CONSTITUTION OF THE L.M.B.C.
(Established March, 1885.)
T.—The Ossect of the L.M.B.C. is to investigate the
Marine Fauna and Flora (and any related subjects such
as submarine geology and the physical condition of the
water) of Liverpool Bay and the neighbouring parts of
the Irish Sea and, if practicable, to establish and maintain
a Biological Station on some convenient part of the coast.
72 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
11—The Committer shall consist of not more than 12
and not less than 10 members, of whom 38 shall form a
quorum; and a meeting shall be called at least once a
year for the purpose of arranging the Annual Report,
passing the Treasurer’s accounts, and transacting any other
necessary business.
I11.—During the year the Arratrs of the Committee
shall be conducted by an Hon. Director, who shall be
Chairman of the Committee, and an Hon. TREASURER,
both of whom shall be appointed at the Annual Meeting,
and shall be eligible for re-election. ;
TVY.—Any Vacancies on the Committee, caused by
death or resignation, shall be filled by the election at
the Annual Meeting, of those who, by their work on the
Marine Biology of the district, or by their sympathy with
science, seem best fitted to help in advancing the work of
the Committee.
V.—The Exprnsss of the investigations, of the publi-
cation of results, and of the maintenance of the Biological
Station shall be defrayed by the Committee, who, for this
purpose, shall ask for subscriptions or donations from the
public, and for grants from scientific funds.
VI.—The Brotocican Sration shall be used primarily
for the Exploring work of the Committee, and the
Specimens collected shall, so far as is necessary, be
placed in the first instance at the disposal of the members
of the Committee and other specialists who are reporting
upon groups of organisms: work places in the Biological
Station may, however, be rented by the week, month, or
year to students and others, and duplicate specimens
which, in the opinion of the Committee, can be spared
may be sold to museums and laboratories.
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION A'T PORT ERIN. 73
LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION
AT
PORT ERIN.
LABORATORY REGULATIONS.
I.—This Biological Station is under the control of the
Liverpool Marine Biological Committee, the executive of
which consists of the Hon. Director (Prof. Herdman,
F-R.S.) and the Hon. Treasurer (Mr. I. C. Thompson,
F.1.S.).
I1.—In the absence of the Director, and of all other
members of the Committee, the Station is under the
temporary control of the Resident Curator (Mr. H. C.
Chadwick), who will keep the keys, and will decide, in the
event of any difficulty, which places are to be occupied by
workers, and how the tanks, boats, collecting apparatus,
&e., are to be employed.
Ilt.—The Resident Curator will be ready at all
reasonable hours and within reasonable hmits to give
assistance to workers at the Station, and to do his best
to supply them with material for their investigations.
TV.—Visitors will be admitted, on payment of a small
specified charge, at fixed hours, to see the Aquarium and
Museum adjoining the Station. Occasional public lectures
are given in the Institution by members of the Committee.
V.—Those who are entitled to work in the Station,
when there is room, and after formal application to the
Director, are:—-(1) Annual Subscribers of one guinea or
upwards to the funds (each guinea subscribed entitling to
the use of a work place for three weeks), and (2) others
who are not annual subscribers, but who pay the Treasurer
74 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
10s. per week for the accommodation and privileges.
Institutions, such as Colleges and Museums, may become —
subscribers in order that a work place may be at the
disposal of their students or staff for a certain period
annually ; a subscription of two guineas will secure a work
place for six weeks in the year, a subscription of five
guineas for four months, and a subscription of £10 for the
whole year.
VI.—Each worker is entitled to a work place opposite
a window in the Laboratory, and may make use of the
microscopes, reagents, and other apparatus, and of the
boats, dredges, tow-nets, &c., so far as is compatible with
the claims of other workers, and with the routine work of
the Station.
VIJ.—Each worker will be allowed to use one pint of
methylated spirit per week free. Any further amount
required must be paid for. All dishes, jars, bottles, tubes,
and other glass may be used freely, but must not be
taken away from the Laboratory. Workers desirous of
making, preserving, or taking away collections of marine
animals and plants, can make special arrangements
with the Director or Treasurer in regard to bottles and
preservatives. Although workers in the Station are free
to make their own collections at Port Erin, it must be
clearly understood that (as in other Biological Stations)
no specimens must be taken for such purposes from the
Laboratory stock, nor from the Aquarium tanks, nor from
the steam-boat dredging expeditions, as these specimens
are the property of the Committee. The specimens in
the Laboratory stock are preserved for sale, the animals
in the tanks are for the instruction of visitors to the
Aquarium, and as all the expenses of steam-boat dredging
expeditions are defrayed by the Committee, the specimens
obtained on these occasions must be retained by the
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. (5
Committee (a) for the use of the specialists working at
the Fauna of Liverpool Bay, (b) to replenish the tanks,
and (c) to add to the stock of duplicate animals for sale
from the Laboratory.
VIII.—Each worker at the Station is expected to lay
a paper on some of his results—or at least a short report
upon his work—before the Biological Society of Liverpool
during the current or the following session.
TX.—AI] subscriptions, payments, and other commu-
nications relating to finance, should be sent to the Hon.
Treasurer, Mr. I. C. Thompson, F.L.S., 53, Croxteth
Road, Liverpool. Applications for permission to work at
the Station, or for specimens, or any communications in
regard to the scientific work should be made to Professor
Herdman, F.R.S., University College, Liverpool.
Plankton Microscope, as used at Kiel, with large Mechanical Stage.
H
76 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
APPENDIX KE.
HON. TREASURER’S STATEMENT.
As usual the list of subscribers and the balance sheet
are appended, the latter again showing a small adverse
balance.
The report’ of the Director clearly indicates the
necessity there is for kindly increased support by subserip-
tions and donations now that the commodious new
Biological Station is in occupation.
As stated in the Report, further valued donations
have been made to the fund for publishing Biological
Memoirs. The accounts of this fund are kept separately,
and do not therefore appear in the annexed balance sheet.
The Library for the use of students and workers at the
Port Erin Station is urgently in want of many standard
Biological works. The Treasurer gratefully acknowledges
the sum of £5 received from Mrs. Herdman towards this
object. Further donations towards the library will be
most welcome.
The Treasurer will gladly receive the names of new
subscribers, with the view of continuing the publication
of important Memoirs, and of aiding to defray the
increased working expenses of the Biological Station, and
of thus further adding very materially to the already
-excellent work achieved under the auspices of the
L.M.B.C. since its foundation, seventeen years ago.
: Isaac C. Tuompson, Hon. Treasurer,
53, Croxteth Road, Liverpool.
MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN
SUBSCRIPTIONS axp DONATIONS.
Subscriptions.
Ayre, John W., Ripponden, Halifax
Bateson, Alfred, Styal, Manchester
Beaumont, W. J., Citadel Hill, Plymouth
Bickersteth, Dr., 2, Rodney-street...
Brown, Prof. J. Campbell, Univ. Coll.
Browne, Edward T., B.A., 141, Uxbridge-
road, Shepherd’s Bush, London
Brunner, Sir J. T., Bart., M.P., L’pool
Boyce, Prof., University College
Clague, Dr., Castletown, Isle of Man
Clubb, J. A., Public Museums, Liverpool...
Crellin, John C., J.P., Andreas, I. of Man...
Gair, H. W., Smithdown-rd., Wavertree
Gamble, Sir David, C.B., St. Helens
Gamble, F.W.,Owens College, Manchester...
Gaskell, Holbrook, J.P., Woolton Wood...
Halls, W. J., 35, Lord-street
' Hanitsch, Dr., Museum, Singapore
Herdman, Prof., University College
Hewitt, David B., J.P., Northwich
Holland, Walter, Mossley Hill-road
Holt, Alfred, Crofton, Aigburth.
Holt, Mrs., Sudley, Mossley Hill ...
Holt, R. D., 54, Ullet-road, Liverpool
Hoyle, W. E., Museum, Owens College ...
Isle of Man Natural History Society
Jarmay, Gustav, Hartford . iy
Jones, C.W., J.P., Allerton Bane
Kermode, P. M. O., Hill-side, Ramsey
Lea, Rev. T. Simcox, St. Ambrose Vicar-
age, Widnes
Forward
‘£ gs.
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£41 10
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78 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Forward ...
Leicester, Alfred, Scott Dale, New Ferry...
Lewis, Dr. W. B., West Riding a
Wakefield es
Manchester Microscopical samen
Meade-King, R. R., 4 Oldhall-street
Melly, W. R., 90, Chatham-street ...
Monks, F. W., Brooklands, Warrington ...
Muspratt, E. K., Seaforth Hall
Newton, John, M.R.C.S., Prince’s Gate ...
Okell, Robert, B.A., Sutton, Douglas
Paterson, Prof., University College
Rathbone, Mrs. Theo., Backwood, Neston...
Rathbone, Miss May, Backwood, Neston...
Rathbone, W., the late, Greenbank
Roberts, Dr. Isaac, F.R.S., Crowborough...
Simpson, J. Hope, Aigburth-drive. .
Smith, A. T., 35, Castle-street
Talbot, Rev. T. U., Douglas, Isle of Man...
Thompson, Isaac C., 53, Croxteth-road
Thornely, The Misses, Aigburth-Hall-rd....
Timmis, T. Sutton, Cleveley, Allerton
Toll, J. M., Kirby Park, Kirby
Walker, A. O., Uleombe Place, Maidstone...
Walker, Horace, South Lodge, Princes-pk....
Watson, A. T., Tapton-crescent, Sheffield...
Weiss, Prof. F. E., Owens College,
Manchester ie
Wiglesworth, Dr., Rainhill...
Yates, Harry, 75, Shude-hill, Manchester...
Subscriptions.
£ 8.od,
41 10 O
11, A
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1) £8
010 O
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MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 79
SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE HIRE OF COLLEGE ‘‘ WorRK-TABLES.’’
Owens College, Manchester see ae en eee LO mnOnO
University College, Liverpool ... 6 es LODO!
Birmingham University... ia aes nnd 10" Or 0
£30) 10) 0
DONATION TOWARDS LIBRARY.
Herdman, Mrs., Croxteth Lodge, Ullet Road ... Onn. 0
The Naturalists’ Dredge.
“HIINS ‘Lb ‘V *GO6T “ISTE Laquiasag “TOOdUAATT
790.1409 punof{ pun pajypny ‘MaUASVAUT, “NOFT
‘NOSdNWOHL ‘0 OVVSI
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81
CLUNIO BICOLOR, KIEFF ;
A MARINE CHIRONOMID NEW TO THE: FAUNA
OF GREAT BRITAIN.
By A. D. IMMS,
Zoological Laboratory, Unwersity of Birmingham.
During the middle of August, 1902,” I came across a
number of small dipterous insects skimming over the
surface of the rock pools on the shores about Port Erin,
Isle of Man. Upon one calm sunny day they were about
in considerable numbers, and I was able to secure several
of them. On the following day I observed a few in a
similar situation at Fleshwick Bay, a locality a few miles
north of Port Erin. When I first examined these
specimens, I thought them to be the males of C/lunvo
marinus, Hal., but, after a subsequent careful recon-
sideration, I detected differences, and found that the
species to which they belong is Clunzo bicolor, Kieff. I
am indebted to the kindness of M. VAbbe J. J. Kieffer for
corroborating my identification as C. becolor, and _ to
M. Henri Gadeau de Kerville who sent me some spirit
specimens of this insect, last year, from the, coasts of
France. During the short time I was able to devote to
searching for this insect, I only met with one female
* While occupying the University of Birmingham Table at the
Marine Biological Laboratory, Port Erin,
82 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
example. The male appears to be only on the wing
during fine weather, and, owing to its fragility, even but
a slight wind seems detrimental to it. Flying in company
with the Clunio were both sexes of a species of Chironomus,
the female of which it resembles very closely both in size
and colour; and, at first sight, it was not easy to dis-
criminate between the two species when they were on the
wing. The Clunio flies but short distances at a time, gener-
ally about two feet, settling but for a moment between each
effort. The wings during the whole time are incessantly
in vibration. It is only seen at low water, and lives for
a very short time, probably not surviving until a second
ebb tide. I have not seen it ascend into the air, or do
otherwise than merely skim over the water and rocks
within a few inches of the surface. The single female
which I met with was observed resting upon the surface
film of the water; and she is likewise very short lived.
The genus Clunio was erected by Haliday in 1855 for
the males of a single species (C. marinus) which he found
on the shores of Kerry below high-water mark. He
diagnosed the genus as follows :—
“ Proboscis obsoleta. Antenne ll-articulate, articulis
3-tio et ultimo elongatis. Ale alutacez, venis longitu-
dinalibus furcatis binis, transversis nullis. Tarsi postici
articulo tertio subelongato.”’§
Rather than present any detailed description of Clunio
bicolor, I append the careful description of C. marinus
given by that inimitable entomologist, and then point
out the differences between the two species.
Haliday’s description is as follows :—-
“Long 4, Exp. 2 lines. Head rounded, dusky fer-
ruginous, concealed under the projecting front of thorax,
§ Unfortunately published in a journal now long extinct,
CLUNIO BICOLOR. 83
the mouth inflected to the prosternum. . Eyes round,
composed of few facets, with some hairs interspersed,
approximate on the face. Antenne inserted near the
mouth, shorter than the thorax, 11-jointed, whitish, the
third joint elongated, the others short and more dusky,
the last again elongated and thickened, elliptical. Pro-
boscis obsolete, only the lower margin of the head
scalloped, the rounded lateral lobes a little hairy at the
tip, perhaps representing palpi, and the intermediate
divided lobe the labium. Thorax dusky ferruginous, with
the scutellum and pleure yellowish; oblong, a little com-
pressed; the mesonotum tripartite by two impressed
parallel longitudinal lines, and elevated line down the
middle, ending in the depression before the scutellum ;
this convex semicircular; metathorax very short;
mesonotum gibbous backwards. Legs rather short,
compressed, dingy white, pubescent; the hind tibie at the
tip, and the hind tarsi ciliated. Fore coxa twisted, the
trochanter toothed, and the base of the femur curved.
Tibiz blackish at the very base, armed at the tip with a
minute black pointed spur. Anterior tarsi with the first
joint linear, the following ones short suborbiculate, the
last ovate; hind tarsus with the first and third linear, the
second oblong, half as long as the third, the fourth short
suborbiculate. Ungues dusky; empodium apparently
dilated more than the onychia. Posterior cox extending
backwards under the base of the abdomen. Wings oblong,
with the axillary sinus semicircular, and the anal angle
strong; the membrane adiaphanous, dingy whitish,
microscopically stippled, glabrous, only the margin finely
pubescent. The veins faint, the radial ending a little
before the middle of the costa, the prebrachial is forked
opposite the end of the first, the posterior branch running
to the tip, the anterior ending not far before it; podo-
I
84 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCTETY.
brachial runs to the posterior margin, becoming forked
beyond the middle, with the posterior branch (subanal)
curved, and another very faint simple vein (anal) accom-
panies the course of this. Halteres whitish. Abdomen
scarcely as long as the thorax, gradually widened behind,
of 7 segments, dusky, with a hoary bloom, and a pearly
gloss on the posterior segments Hypopygium as long as
the abdomen, and thicker, fusco-ferruginous, with
yellowish silky down, and composed of an oblong plate
below, rounded at the tip, and a pair of massive com-
pressed lateral arms, with a double ridge beneath, and
rounded at the tip, where they are articulated to a smaller
compressed piece, dilated at the tip, and truncated (mallet-
shaped).”’
The differences between the two species do not warrant
a minute description, and may, perhaps, be best shown im
synoptical form.
Antennary shaft bicolorous, the first and last joints
white, the eight intervening ones brown; thorax brown,
with a long median longitudinal band of a brighter colour
and traversed down its centre by a brownish line;
scutellum whitish green with a _ brown transverse
marking; wings with a faint vein between the “anal ”
and ‘“ podobrachial”’ veins; abdomen green, slightly
longer than the claspers—C. bicolor.
Antennary shaft whitish throughout; wings with no
ee
vein between the “anal” and ‘ podobrachial” veins;
abdomen brown like the thorax and claspers, shorter than
the claspers-—C. marinus.
The male of Clunzo bicolor was discovered by Gadeau de
Kerville in the Bay of Saint Martin in 1899; in 1900 some
specimens were obtained by Chevrel at Saint Briae (Ille
et Vilaine). It has not been recorded from any other
localities, and through its occurrence at Port Erin I am
CLUNIO BICOLOR. 85
able to add it as a species new to the British Dipterous
fauna.
The female very closely resembles that of C. marinus,
the distinctions are merely those of colour; the female of
the latter species has not been described minutely, and,
hence, I am unable to point out any differences between
it and my spirit specimen of C. bicolor. It has not
previously been met with, and I can fully endorse the
recent suggestion of Gadeau de Kerville who remarks,
“La femelle est jus qu’alors inconnue. Il y a tout heu de
supposer quelle est apteré et vermiforme, comme celle du
Clunio marinus.” The larva and pupa are, as yet,
unknown.
The text-figures show both sexes of the fly, with an
enlarged head of the male.
Fic. 1.‘ Male of Cluwnio bicolor. Fic. 2. Lateral view of head of
same, shewing projecting anterior margin of thorax. Fic. 3. Female
fly. The natural size is indicated by the lines alongside figure 1,
86 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
LITERATURE.
1855. A. H. Hauipay. Nat. Hist. Rev., vol. ii., Proc. p. 54, pl. ii.
1900. H.Gapratv DE KeERvILLE. Bull. Soc. Amis Sci. Nat. Rouen,
proc.-verb. 8th Novy. (with Kieffer’s description of Clwnio
bicolor).
1901. —————
Tb. pp. 194-206.
1902. A. D. Imus. Entom., vol. xxxv., pp. 157-158. (With a
bibliography of the genus).
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. S7
Report on the INVEstTIGATIons carried on during 1902
in connection with the LancasHIRE SnA-FISHERIES
Laporatory at University College, Liverpool, and
the Sra-Fisu Harcnuery at Piel, near Barrow.
Drawn up by Professor W. A. Herpman, F.R.S., Honorary
Director of the Scientific Work; assisted by Mr.
AnpDREW Scortr, A.L.S., Resident Fisheries Assistant
at Piel; and Mr. James Jounsrony, B.Sc., Fisheries
Assistant at the Liverpool Laboratory.
(With tables, charts and figures im the text.)
CONTENTS.
1. Introduction and General Account of the Work. (W. A. H.) 87
2. Sea-Fish Hatching at Piel. (A. 8S.) - - - : SF OM
3. The Artificial Fertilization of Fish Ova. (A. 8!) : Os
4. Lobster Spawning. (A. 8.) - - : : y - 106
5. Spring and Autumn Herring. (J.T. Jenkins) - 2 Saal
6. Future of Sea-Fisheries Investigation. (W. A. H.) - - 125
7. Scheme for Investigation of Irish Sea. (W. A. H.) - Beale sil
8. Experiments with ‘‘ Drift Bottles.”” (J. J.) = 2 - 154
9. Report on Trawling Statistics. (J.J.) — - - - - 165
10. Identification of Fish Eggs. (J .J.) - : : : ea Lit
11. Technical Instruction at Piel. (W. A. H.) 4 : - 187
INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE WORK.
Tue work of the past year has been chiefly : —
(1) The hatching operations and other similar work
carried out at Piel by Mr. Andrew Scott ;
(2) Laboratory investigations by Mr. Johnstone at
Liverpool ;
(3) Analysis and discussion of our fishery statistics ;
(4) The work of the circulating Fisheries Exhibition ;
(5) Practical Laboratory Classes for Fishermen; and
(6). I may add my own work in connection with the
Report of the Ichthyological Research Committee, which
has a considerable bearing upon our local investigations.
Some of these matters which can be treated shortly I
K
88 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
shall remark upon here; the others will be discussed more
fully in the separate sections that follow.
This year we have no appendix on a marine animal of
economic value, like the detailed work on the Plaice, by
Mr. Cole and Mr. Johnstone, which adorned the Report last
year; but we have several such in progress—on the Oyster,
on the Fisherman’s Lug-worm, on the Edible Whelk, and
others—which we hope may appear in future Reports.
The Piel Hatcherae
Mr. Scott’s account of the Sea-Fish Hatching work at
Piel will be found in the next section of the Report.
During this year we have added Plaice to the Flounders
dealt with previously. The result has been, because of
the larger size both of the adult fish and of the ova, and
therefore the impossibility of accommodating so many
spawners in our very limited space, a diminution in the
total number of ova dealt with and of fry set free. But
still over a million of young Plaice and over ten millions
of young Flounders have been set free during the
season in our district. Our greatest want in this connec-
tion is a large spawning pond, which could be used in part
for the adult fish and in part for the rearing of the young.
We are unable to do anything in that direction until this
want is supplied. The pond at the Aberdeen Hatchery
is, we understand, proving a success; and the new
hatchery which has been erected by the Manx Govern-
ment in connection with the Biological Station at Port
Erin has a pond measuring nearly 100 by 50 feet, and
from 3 to 10 feet in depth, which it is hoped will enable
adult fish to be kept all the year round, and will also serve
for the rearing of young both of fish and lobsters. It is
not too much to say that no hatchery is complete without
a spawning pond, and that the want of one at Piel seriously
-
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 89
impedes Mr. Scott's operations. We are now preparing
for the work of the coming season, and again we are
indebted to the courtesy of the Fishery Board for Scotland
for permission to trawl for large plaice in their closed
waters of Luce Bay.
Mr. Scott also gives us an interesting account of the
method of spawning of the Lobster, as observed by him in
our Hatchery at Piel; and a discussion of some results
that have been reported of the success attained by trawlers
in fertilising fish eggs at sea.
Mr. Scott reports that the Laboratory at Piel has been
occupied by several scientific workers during ‘the year.
In addition to our own Assistants, Mr. Scott and Mr.
Johnstone, who were occupied both in research and also
with practical classes for fishermen, we had, during the
Haster vacation, Dr. H. Lyster Jameson, from the
Municipal Technical College at Derby, who continued his
investigations on the formation of pearls in marine
mussels. Dr.. Jameson has since published a paper on the
subject in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, which
deals with the observations made at Piel and elsewhere.
Mr. Joseph Pearson, B.Sc., and Mr. Walter Tattersall,
B.Sc., two research students from University College,
Liverpool, worked at general. Marine Zoology during
September. Amongst other Scientific or Technical
visitors who have been at ‘Piel during the year to inspect
the laboratory and see the progress of our work were the
following : —
Mr. C. E. Fryer, eee r of Fisheries, Board of Trade.
Dr. H. Timbrell Bulstrode, Local Government Board.
Sir J. T. Hibbert, Chairman of the Lancashire County
Council.
Mr. F. J. Ramsden, Furness Railway Company.
Dr. Snape, Director of Technical Instruction, Preston.
90 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Mr. John Fell, Chairman, Sea-Fisheries Committee.
Mr. James Fletcher, Sea-Fisheries Committee.
Colonel Turner, Sea-Fisheries Committee.
Mr. J. P. Muspratt, County Offices, Preston.
Mr. R. A. Dawson, Preston.
Mr. J. Shepherd, B.Se., University Tutorial College,
London.
Rev. T. Fowler, Flookborough.
Professor Herdman, Liverpool.
Also the Chairman and Members of a number of the
Lancashire local Technical Instruction Committees, the
Barrow Field Naturalists’ Club, and parties from Liver-
pool and Manchester.
Fisheries Exhibition.
The Travelling Fisheries Exhibition, which was- sent
to Piel in 1900, was lent to the Barrow Town Council from
October, 1901, to April, 1902. It was then returned to
Piel, where it is still exhibited.* In Barrow the Exhibi-
tion was shown in the Public Library, and the Town
Council report to us that “The Exhibition Sub-Committee
feel that the result of obtaining the Fisheries Exhibition
for the use of the public has been a success, and has
encouraged ithe hope that it is only the forerunner of the
establishment of a permanent Museum in Barrow. The
interest shown in the exhibition, particularly by the school
children, leads the Committee to believe that it has
undoubtedly been of educational value.”
Classes for Fishermen.
Two practical Classes for Fishermen, on the same lines
as those held in former years, and subsidised as before by
the Technical Instruction Committee, were held at Piel
*Any other Museums or Public Institutions within the
contributing counties desiring to have the Fisheries Exhibit on loan
should apply for a copy of the conditions.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. © Q]
during the hatching season of 1902. The following are
the dates and the names of the men who attended : —
(1) April 7th to April 18th—John Wright, Southport ;
Robert Wright, Southport; J. Bond, Banks; Richard
Abram, Banks; Thomas Rimmer, St. Annes; Isaac
Dobson, St. Annes; Peter Whiteside, Lytham; W. Croft,
Fleetwood; J. Croft, Fleetwood ; 8S. P. Colley, Fleetwood ;
Robert Blundell, Fleetwood; Wilham Beesley, More-
cambe; William Woodhouse, Morecambe; John Johnson,
Morecambe; Edward Gardner, Morecambe.
(2) April 28th to May 9th—Henry Wright, Southport ;
Daniel Rigby, Southport; Richard Robinson, Southport ;
Robert Johnson, Southport; Alfred Threlfall, Fleetwood ;
R. W. Gardner, Sunderland Point; Joseph Bell, More-
eambe; William Armistead, Morecambe; Robert Wilson,
Morecambe; William Hartley, Bardsea; Thomas Dickin-
son, Bardsea; Robert Thompson, Baycliff; William
Bulter, Flookborough; Richard Burrow, Flookborough ;
Robert Burrow, Flookborough.
The classes were conducted by Mr. J. Johnstone and
Mr. A. Scott, and the course of instruction was practically
the same as that given in the classes of previous years,
with the addition that one afternoon was spent in showing
a few simple chemical experiments of biological
importance, demonstrating the composition of air and
water, and the relation between these bodies and the
respiration of marine animals.
The student-fishermen all took an intelligent mterest in
the work of the class. Many of them had brought note-
books, in which they took records of the :work done and
copies of the various illustrations drawn on the black-
board. These note-books were looked over by Mr.
Johnstone before the classes broke up, and additional
information was added, so as to render the notes more
Qv TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
valuable for future reference. At the conclusion of each
class the men expressed their indebtedness. to the Tech-
nical Instruction Committee and to the Sea-Fisheries
Committee for this arrangement by which they are
enabled to come to Piel and receive practical instruction
concerning the hfe and habits of the more important
marine animals.
From the number of enquiries we have had for informa-
tion as to the methods adopted in carrying on these classes,
it is evident that the importance of practical instruction
to fishermen on the nature, life histories and habits of the
economic marine animals is being more appreciated each
year. Other Fisheries Authorities are now taking up the
work. The Eastern Sea-Fisheries Committee asked per-
mission for some of their men to attend at Piel along with
the Lancashire fishermen; and amongst the enquiries
for particulars as to the methods of organisation was one
on behalf of the Japanese Minister of Fisheries. We give
at the end of this Report a more detailed statement which
has been recently drawn up as to the Technical Fisheries
Instruction provided under the auspices of our Committee.
Experiments with “Drifters.”
It will be remembered that in several former reports (see
especially those for 1895 and 1898) we dealt with the
surface currents of our sea which might carry floating fish
eggs and larve, as determined by the distribution of
numbered “ drift” bottles set free at times and localities
duly noted, and containing post cards to be filled in and
returned by the finder. As it had become desirable to
ascertain where fish eggs produced in the deep water off
Carnarvon and Cardigan Bays, the Welsh portion of our
extended distriet, would be carried to, I arranged to set
free a new series of drift bottles during my passage down
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 93
the Channel last winter, on the way to Ceylon. Conse-
quently during the first night after leaving Liverpool,
from the N.W. Lightship onwards, Mr. Hornell and I set
free 200 drift bottles, in batches of 10, thrown overboard
every half hour or quarter hour, according to the locality,
from 1.30 to 10.50 am. The experiment was remarkably
successful; 118 out of the 200 bottles were subsequently
found, and Mr. Johnstone has worked out the particulars
of their probable journeys, and the evidence they give us as
to the drift of small objects in that part of the Irish Sea.
The experiment seems to prove, what was previously sus-
pected, that the eggs of fish spawning off Carnarvon and
Cardigan Bays will probably find their way into
Lancashire waters, and by the time they have come to be
post-larval will be in a position to recruit the populations
99
of our coastal ‘‘ nurseries
Other Investigations.
One of our former students of fishery matters, Dr. J.
Travis Jenkins, now Lecturer in Biology in the Hartley
College, Southampton, contributes a paper to this Report
upon the question of supposed “spring” and “ autumn ”
races of the Herring. There are undoubtedly two main
spawning seasons for the Herring in our seas, the one in
spring and the other in autumn, and the German
Naturalist, Professor F. Heincke, has contended that it is
two distinct races of Herring that spawn at these two
seasons.
Dr. Jenkins’ discussion of the known facts, and his
careful analysis and criticism of Heincke’s figures and
arguments, show that we have not yet sufficient evidence
to enable us to separate the Herrings of our seas into a
“spring” and an “autumn”’ race.
Mr. Johnstone gives a translation of Dr. Heincke’s table
Q4 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
for the identification of the floating fish eggs found in our
seas, Which will no doubt be found very useful in this
English form.
Mr. Johnstone has devoted some time during the year to
an examination of our trawling statistics collected on
the steamer and otherwise, with the result that he is able
to draw some conclusions of importance which are
discussed in his article below. He also gives us a valuable
contribution to that important subject, the comparability
of hauls taken under closely similar conditions. ‘This
matter is fundamental for all arguments based upon
observations and statistics which are only samples, and
Mr. Johnstone’s results show that we must be even more
careful than had been supposed in the collection and
comparison of such statistics, and in drawing any
conclusions from them.
On my recommendation, an application to the Scientific
Sub-Committee from the authorities of the Liverpool Free
Public Museum to be allowed on occasions to use a small
meshed (illegal) net in and about the mouth of the Mersey
for the purpose of obtaining specimens for the Aquariwn,
was granted. The report from the Museum upon the
result, which is required by the Committee on each such
occasion, shows that along with the common animals
usually caught in the locality, there were two rarer species,
which have been obtained during the stumumer, viz.,
the Spotted Dragonet,. Callionymus maculatus, and a
Cirripede parasite of the hermit crab, named /eltogaster
paguri. Both had been first found in our district some
years ago by the Liverpool Marme Biology Committee.
The Peltogaster had been recognised and labelled in the
Zoology Museum of University College, but the Calliony-
mus was not finally identified until seen both at the
Public Museum and at the College Museum by the
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 95
practised eye of Mr. Scott. This is only one of many
cases of new records to our district that we owe to the
skill and faunistic knowledge of Mr. Scott.
The important question of the pollution by sewage of
our shore fisheries, and especially shell-fish beds, 1s once
more exciting public attention. We have made contri-
butions to the subject in several previous reports, and we
now propose, in co-operation with Mr. Dawson and the
bailifts, to make a thorough examination of the shell-fish
beds of our district, so that we may be in a position to
advise the Committee or the Public Health Authorities
upon any particular cases that may arise.
Report of the Ichthy ological Research Committee.
My own chief contribution to the Report this year is
a discussion of the International North Sea Investigation
and of the Report of the Ichthyological Research Com-
mittee lately issued as a Government Blue Book. The
international scheme is an interesting scientific investi-
gation undertaken in conjunction with certain foreign
nations for three years, and in regard to the practical
utility of which, for British. fisheries, opinion is much
divided.
The Ichthyological Committee has produced a report
which consists partly of a discussion of the problems that
are most important at present to the British fishing
imdustries, and of the manner in which these problems
must be investigated, and partly of a comprehensive
scheme for organising sea-fisheries research throughout
the country. It is recommended that Government should
constitute a ‘‘ Fishery Council for England ” consisting
of representatives of (a) the Board of Trade, (b) the Local
Sea-Fisheries Committees, and (c) the scientific men
directing the work of certain marine laboratories. Hach
96 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
coast of England (Kast, South and West) is treated
separately, and each, it is suggested, should have its
own steamer for special investigations and its own
marine laboratory, existing institutions being made use
of whenever possible. If these recommendations of this
Committee, on which were representatives of several
Government departments, and of the Central Fisheries
Authorities of England, Scotland and Iveland, as well as
independent scientific men, are carried out in a hberal
spirit by the Government, they will go far, I believe, to
remedy the existing unsatisfactory state of affairs, and to
bring about a national scheme of fisheries investigation
centring in the Board of Trade, but representing all
interests——official, trade and scientific and condueing to
the prosperity of an important industry.
W. A. HERDMAN.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL,
January, 1908.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 97
SHA EKisa HarcuinG at PIEL.
By ANDREW Scorv.
In the operations carried on during the fish hatching
season of 1902, the eggs of both plaice and flounder were
dealt with. The number of eggs incubated and fry set
free, fall short of last year’s figures. This reduction is
due to the fact that the number of eggs produced by a
mature female plaice is only about one-fifth of that pro-
duced by a mature female flounder, and that this year
about half of our available space was occupied by plaice,
while the previous year it was wholly devoted to flounders.
The average spawning plaice is also considerably larger
than the average spawning flounder, and, therefore, fewer
adults can be kept. It therefore follows, that with the
limited tank accommodation at Piel, if we continue to
substitute plaice for flounder, the number of eggs for
incubation will decrease. Any such decrease in the
numbers of fry set free is, however, more than compen-
sated for by the higher value of the plaice.
As stated in last year’s report, mature plaice are now
very scarce in Lancashire waters. It has been necessary,
therefore, to obtain the stock of spawning fish from the
_ preserved waters on the South coast of Scotland. Per-
mission to trawl in Luce Bay was very courteously given
by the Fishery Board for Scotland, and in the autumn of
1901 and 1902 visits were made to that bay with much
success, and a sufficient number of mature fish were
collected. It is to be regretted that such an area, suitable
for the habitat of mature plaice, and at the same time able
to be strictly preserved by the Lancashire and Western Sea
98 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Fisheries Committee, does not exist in the coastal waters.
under their control. We have evidence which seems to
indicate that this fish is now becoming less abundant than
formerly on the West coast. The difficulty of securing
mature specimens in any quantity is mentioned above,
and there is reason to think that young plaice (1st and
2nd year fish) are also undergoing reduction in the in-
shore waters.” The remedial measures in these cireum-
stances easiest of attainment appear to be: (1) Protection
of the young fish on the in-shore grounds; (2) The im-—
position of some suitable size limit; (3) A hatchery in
conjunction with some preserved area. Of these remedies
(1) is difficult to secure, for although much evidence in
favour of the preservation of certain in-shore areas
frequented by young plaice has been obtained by the
Committee, powers to eftect this have not been granted
them; (2) requires legislation of which there is still no
immediate prospect. Hatching in conjunction with a
preserved area is therefore the only (present) practicable
remedial measure, and this we have endeavoured to adopt
by making use of the Piel hatchery and the preserved
waters of the Fishery Board for Scotland in Luce Bay.
Such a measure obviously requires the co-operation of
two of the authorities concerned in the regulation of the
Irish Sea Fisheries—the Fishery Board for Scotland and
the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee
and this co-operation we have fortunately been able to
secure. To develop the method further will, however,
require an extension of the resources at our command
as far as the Piel hatchery is concerned. It is found to
be impossible to keep the adult fish in our small tanks
from one hatching season to another. An open air pond
on similar lines to the one at the Fishery Board for Scot-
* See this Report, p. 80-2.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 99
land’s Hatchery, Bay of Nigg, near Aberdeen, would be
of immense value in all our hatching and rearing work.
Once the pond was stocked with fish, re-stocking would
be unnecessary except, perhaps, occasionally to compensate
for death due to unavoidable causes. The pond would
also encourage the growth of natural food for the larve,
and thus place us, to some extent at least, beyond the
influences of weather and tides which so readily affect
the floating food supply of the sea in a neighbourhood
such as that of Piel. | |
During the season of 1902 we had 60 plaice and 150
flounders in the tanks. ‘he latter were collected in
Barrow Channel, as in former years, by Mr. Wright.
The prolonged period of cold weather in February, and
the consequent low temperature of the air and sea, had
considerable effect in retarding the maturing of the fish.
The first fertilised eggs were collected on March 6th, and
the last on May 21st. During the spawning period over
thirteen millions of egos were collected and incubated,
and these eggs produced nearly twelve millions of fry,
which were set free about the centre of Morecambe Bay,
a locality where we have found, in various surface tow-
nettings, the fry of cod and plaice naturally hatched in
the sea. In the case of the flounder the period of incuba-
tion varied from eleven days at the beginning of the
season to seven days at the end, because of the increase
of temperature. The plaice at the beginning of the
season took seventeen days to incubate, and fifteen
towards the end. ‘The loss of eggs during incubation
from all causes was slightly over 11 per cent.
The following tables show the number of eggs collected
and fry set free, and also the specific gravity* and tem-
* The figures given are simply the uncorrected readings taken
with the Kiel areometers.
100 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
perature of the sea water in the hatching boxes during the
spawning season. The temperature of the air in the
Tank House at noon of each day is also given,
PLAICE.
Eggs Collected. Fry Set Free.
March 6... 40,000 35,500 ... April 1
ey de 0 Melee am 5 0610) | 22,000 ... Fs P
ay le oo. pAOOOR | 35,000... ” ie
mt We Toten enue | 66,500... 4 2
(Min Oe. 1- O0,000 44,000... a5 7
eek “ac aa,000 | 67,000> 222 “ 15
ie Ores OY) | 66,500... z e
ae AAD YL re OU | 67,000 32 Us 3
April) ){ i 12. ¢,400,000 44,000) .....)\ -May tire
is 5.) 24, DOCG | 44,000 ... Ke +
a 1 ory OC OUU | 44,500 ... hs 5
i APS... 3685000 | 61;000 «2.2 ae 5
i 15H ee EO 0D | G2:000 4 of eae : | amt! | Date. | fe ae Specific
eae ne rravity. || | ie eo Gravity.
EO lw Sa | jl °C. ogy,
Mar. 6 B26). > 9) Sass 1-0260 prorat a 8:8 | 10-4 1-0268
7} 46 | 4:8 | 1:0260 || 23 8:8 | 10-4 | 1-0268
8| 50 | 68 — 4-0260 | 24) 92 | 106 | 1-0268
Din BO...| GF 41-0260 FI 25.| 9:6 .|.110 +} 150260
10| 52 | 72 | 1-0268 || 26) 9-4 11:2 | 1-0260
| 52 | 62 {41-0968 || a7} 9-9 9-2 | 1-0260
12 bs BeBe eee OT T0268 i> iV) Senn eee 8:0 | 1-0260
13 O29) NS 0260 29 | 92 | 9a ete
14] 5:0 6-0 | 1:0260 | 30, 92 | 9-2. | 1:0260
15 | 5:4 68° | 1:0268 ||May 1) 92 | 96 | 1-0260
16 | 6-2 72 | 1:0268 || 2)/ 92 | 98 | 10260
17.) 04 8-8 1:0262 | 3; 9-2 | 100 | 1-0260
18 | 66 8-2 1-0262 4) 92 | 10-2 .! 1-0260
19| 5:8 TO ~~ 1:0262 | 5} 92 | 100 | 1°0260
20 | 5:8 6:2 1:0262 | 6) 92 | 96 | 1:0260
Q1| 5:8 58 | 1:0262 | 7| 86 | 88 | 1:0260
92| 5:4 5-4 | 1:0268 || 8! 86 | 88 | 1:0260
23 | 56 56 | 1-0262 || 9| 9:0 | 92 | 1°0260
a4) 5:4 5-2 | 1-0260 || 10} 9:0 9-4 | 1:0260
95 | 5:2 5°8 | 1:0260 | 11! 99 9-8 | 1:0266
96 | 5:2 6-0 | 1:0260 || 12| 9-0 9-8 | 1:0260
27 | 5:6 6:4 | 1:0260 || 13.) 58 9:8 | 1-0260
98| 60 | 86 | 1:0260 || 14} 90 10-0 | 1:0260
99 | 6-4 8:6 | 1:0260 15 | 9-2 9-2 | 1:0260
301 6-2 7:0 | 1-0260 | 16) 9-2 9-4 | 1-0260
31! 6-2 74 | 1:0268 || 17 | 9:4 10:0 | 1:0260
April 1/ 68 | 7:6 | 1:0268 | 18 9-2 9-8 | 1-0260
2) 07-1 ie mer oes 19} 9:2 9:8 | 1:0260
3| 6:8 72 | 1-0266 || 20! 9-0 9-2 | 1:0260
4| 66 62 | 1:0268 91 | 9-4 10-4 | 1:0260
5| 6:0 5:8 | 1:0268 22 | 98 10-4 | 1:0260
6| 5:6 6-4 | 1:0268 93 | 10-0 11:8 | 1:0260
7| 5:8 56 | 1:0268 | 10-2 10:8 1:0258
8| 5:8 6:0 | 1:0268 | 25 | 10:4 11-4 | 1:0258
9| 62 70 | 1:0268 26 | 10'8 11-4 | 1:0258
10} 62 78 | 1:0268 27 | 11:0. | 18-4 | 1-0258
11| 60 8:0 | 1:0268 28 | 11:0 14:0 «|, 1:0258
12| 62 8-0 | 1:0268 299 | 11:0 | 13:6 | 1:0258
18,45 1758 8-4 | 1:0268 30 | 11:0 12'8 | 1:0258
14] 7:0 8:4 | 1-0268 31 | 11-2 134 | 1:0258
15| 7:8 9:0 | 1:0268 |\June 1} 11:4 14:0 | 1/0258
16{ 80 9-2 | 1:0268 | 2| 11:8 14:0 | 1:0256
17} 80 9-4 | 1:0268 | 3 | 12-4 16:8 | 1:0256
18] 8-2 9.8 | 1:0268 4 | 12-4 14-6 | 1-0256
19| 7:8 9-4 | 1:0268 5| 124 | 13-2 | 1-0256
20} 7:8 96 | 1:0268 6 | 12-4 13-2 | 1:0256
21) 76 10°6 | 1-0268 | 7 | °12-4 13:2 | 1:0256
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 103
TRAWLERS AND THE ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION OF |
Fisu Ova.
By ANDREW Scott.
Under the above title Mr. A. Meek, M.Se., in his
Report on the scientific investigations carried on under
the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee for the
year 1901, makes some statements regarding the fertili-
zation. of fish ova taken from fish caught in the course of
commercial trawling, which appear to require some
explanation and are at complete variance with the experi-
ence we have had in past years in our work in the Irish
Sea. In a pamphlet published some time previously,
Mr. Meek had given directions for the stripping of ripe
fish caught in the trawl net, and for the fertilization of
the ova, a method which was advocated by Professor
McIntosh and others many years ago. ‘This work was
to be done by the masters of trawlers and the fertilized
ova obtained were to be at once returned to the sea. In
the report referred to Mr. Meek gives some account of
the results obtained. A number of captains of trawlers
had been carrying out this work and a report is given of
the fish and ova dealt with by Captain Cappelman.
According to Mr. Meek, Captain Cappelman dealt
himself with over 40 cod and 12 plaice, and from these
fishes he obtained 120,000,000 cod ova and 2,000,000
plaice ova. This, the writer states, is a modest estimate of
the ova dealt with. But a number of other captains had
also been engaged in the work, and altogether, he
estimates that as a result of the efforts of his Committee
some 500,000,000 of fertilized ova had been returned to
the North Sea. No particulars are given of the exact
methods employed by the captains of the trawlers. We
are safe, however, in assuming that they were similar to
L
104 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
those employed by the captain .and crew of our own
fisheries steamer in the Irish Sea and elsewhere, for the
purpose of obtaining spawn for the Piel hatchery. That
is, the contents of the trawl net when emptied on deck
are diligently worked over. Ripe female cod and plaice,
as the case may be, are selected, and the mature eggs
expelled by gentle pressure on the abdomen into a bucket
of clean sea water. Ripe males are next secured and the
milt expelled into the bucket amongst the eges. The
whole contents are then gently stirred and allowed to
settle for a time. The unripe eggs fall to the bottom and
by carefully pouring off the water into another bucket
these are left behind. The floating eggs which come over
in the water are then ready to be taken to the hatchery
or returned to the sea. It must be remembered, however,
that all floating eggs secured in this manner are not
necessarily fertilized. We have found from actual ex-
perience that unfertilized plaice eges may continue
floating and remain fairly transparent for a whole week
after being expelled from the fish.
If all the 40 cod and 12 plaice dealt with were females,
then the cod apparently gave 5,000,000 eges each and the
plaice about 166,000.
These facts are sufficiently remarkable to those
acquainted with the work which has been done on this
subject to call for some explanation. The best estimates
of the number of eggs contained in the ovaries of ripe
female cod and plaice give from 5 to 65 millions in the
case of the cod, and 148,000 to 487,000 in the case of the
plaice, the exact number of course varying with the size
of the fish and the locality where they were captured.
Captain Cappelman, then, obtained by far the greater
portion of the ovaries by stripping the fish. Now, it is
well known that all the eggs present in the ovary of the
—_
-
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 105
cod and plaice do not become mature at the same time.
In the case of the plaice the proportion is very much
smaller than in the cod. Asa result the spawning period
of each individual fish lasts for some time. In the case of
the plaice it may last a fortnight at least. As successive
batches of eggs ripen they are expelled, until the whole
ovaries are spent. The exact number of ripe eggs that
are expelled at each successive emission is not known;
but from the experience in the Piel hatchery, and our
observations on the steamer lead us to the conclusion
that it is much the same proportion in the case of trawled
ripe fish, we conclude the number does not go beyond a
few thousands in the case of the plaice. It is possible by’
means of pressure on the abdomen to expel 20,000 to
50,000 eggs at least which are fairly transparent, but only
a small proportion of this number are perfectly mature
and can be fertilized.
How obvious this is, is seen from a consideration of Dr.
Fulton’s work on the maturation of pelagic Teleostean
eggs. Some time before the final ripening begins, the
ovaries contain only small opaque ova. Hven then their
size is considerable. In plaice they extend so much into
the body cavity, that the volume of the latter is reduced
by one half, and the intestine and stomach are compressed
into the anterior portion of the cavity. During matura-
tion, as Dr. Fulton has shown, the eggs absorb water and
undergo a considerable increase in size. The immature
ovarian egg of the plaice has a volume of about 0:9276
cmm., whilst the ripe pelagic egg has a volume equal to
3479 cmm. That is, during maturation the volume of
the ege is increased nearly four times. Dr. Fulton says,
“It is physically impossible for a female producing
pelagic eggs to carry all her eggs in the mature distended
state, because the volume of the ripe eggs may approxi-
106 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCTETY.
mate to, or exceed the volume of the body of the
fish.”’
It seems pretty evident that Mr. Meek has made the
error of obtaining the numbers of eggs dealt with by
simply multiplying the number of fish stripped by the
theoretical average number of eggs in the unripe ovary,
and did not actually have the numbers of eggs fertilized
estimated. [lis numbers, therefore, require considerable
reduction. We should say that instead of 500,000,000
a very much smaller number of eggs were really fertilized
and returned alive to the sea.
We do not argue against the method advocated by Mn.
‘Meek, but rather regard it as eminently useful and practi-
eal, if the crews of trawlers have sufficient time and zeal
to carry it out. We think it useful, however, to point out
its limitations.
On THE SPAWNING OF THE ComMOoN LOBSTER.
By AnpREw Scorv.
The exact process by which the eggs of the common
lobster of the British coasts are shed and conveyed to the
swimmerets, appears to have been hitherto unknown.
The following notes based on observations made at the
Piel Hatchery may therefore be of interest.
In the first place a brief account of what is known
regarding the process in some of the other crustacea is
oiven.
Herrick in his great work on the American lobster, *
which is closely related to our own form, states (p. 47)
“ T have not seen the process of egg extrusion and have no
direct observations to record. It has, however, been
witnessed in other crustacea where it is undoubtedly
* Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. XV,
SEA-FISHERTES LABORATORY. 107
similar.’ He refers to the observations on the copulation
of the river crayfish (Potamobius fluviatilis) made by
Chantram and other naturalists, and also to Cano's
account of the laying of the eggs in the crab Maza.
References bearing indirectly on the subject are also
given by Herrick.
Chantram’s account of the extrusion of the eggs in the
river crayfish is as follows:-—‘‘ When the time comes for
the extrusion of the eggs, the female raises herself upon
her feet, and then the abdominal appendages secrete for
a number of hours a grayish, somewhat viscous mass.
She thereupon lies upon her back, bends her tail towards
the opening of the oviducts so as to form a kind of cistern
or chamber, into which, during the following night, the
egos are received as fast as they are expelled from the
genital organs. This expulsion lasts from one to several
hours.” t
Cano gives the following account of the laying of the
ege's in the Crab Maia. ‘The eges at the time of ovul-
ation, pass the opening of the receptaculum seminis, and
are here invested with a coat of cement, which is secreted
and held in the receptacle. The eggs .... are expelled
one at a time by means of the vulvular apparatus .
The eggs thus ejected fall into the abdominal chamber.
The female beats them about with repeated blows of the
tail, while the pleopods, keeping them in continued
agitation, make them converge to the centre of the
abdominal pouch. ‘The deposition of eggs is effected in
Mara in the course of twenty-four hours.”* The position
of this crab during the extrusion of the eggs is not noted.
The Rev. T. R. KR. Stebbing, in his book “ A History of
ble} a
Recent Crustacea,” | gives the following reference, from
+ Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. XV., p. 36.
* Op. cit., p. 49:
{ Internat. Scientific Series, Vol. LXXIY.
108 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Patrick Browne’s * History of Jamaica,” regarding the
spawning of the land crab Gecarcinus. ‘‘ The eggs are
discharged from the body through two small round holes
situated at the sides and about the middle of the under
shell; these are only large enough to admit one at a time,
and as they pass they are entangled in the branched
capillaments .... to which they stick by means of their
proper gluten, until the creatures reach the surf, where
they wash ’em all off, and then they return back again to
the mountains.”
At the end of the lobster hatching and rearing experi-
ments which were carried on during the past sunmner, the
adult lobsters were retained and kept under observation.
On October 9th one of a batch of five in one tank was
seen to be in a restless condition and shortly afterwards
it turned on to its back and remained perfectly still.
Thinking the animal to be dead or dying we proceeded to
remove it, when it was discovered to be shedding eggs.
The process is as follows:—The lobster turns on to its
back and by the aid of the two large claws and ridge of
the abdomen makes a tripod of itself, the head being
considerably higher than the posterior portion. The
abdomen is then strongly flexed, forming a pocket, and
the sete on the edge of the abdominal segments make the
space along the sides perfectly tight. A A shaped opening
into the pocket is formed by the telson and the sixth
abdominal segment. ‘This opening, when the abdomen is
flexed, is slightly posterior to the first pair of swimmerets.
The eggs then flow from the two genital openings in a
continuous stream, one at a time, and pass along at the
bases of the last walking legs and into the opening of the
“ pocket.” The course of the eggs into the “ pocket” is
further assisted by a constant pulsation of the first pair
of swimmerets, causing an indraught, which carries them
——
— 2.2 ee
SKA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 109
rapidly inside. None of the eggs are lost on the passage
from the genital openings to the “pocket” unless the
lobster is disturbed. As the eggs leave the oviducts they
become coated with an adhesive substance which causes
them to stick together and to the swimmerets. The period
of oviposition in the lobster under observation was just
over four hours. Half an hour after the eggs had ceased
to flow the lobster righted itself and walked into a corner
of the tank, eventually getting into a nearly perpendicular
position, with the head downward. It remained in this
position for the rest of the day. Next day it was walking
about the bottom of the tank in the usual way of a berried
lobster. That the adhesive power of the eggs was im-
parted to them before leaving the oviducts, was proved by
collecting some just as they emerged from the genital
openings. When these samples were placed in a glass
of sea water and collected into a heap, they all became
attached one to the other, and also to the glass. Moreover,
the adhesive material only remains soft for a short time,
as when the individual eggs were isolated and prevented
from adhering to the glass, it was found that at the end
of half an hour the adhesive property had completely
disappeared. The egos when extruded are quite soft and
fall flat when removed from the water, the spherical state
is regained immediately the eggs are placed in the water
again. ‘hey are of an opaque dark green colour, with a
thin transparent shell. The eggs measured in water so
that the spherical condition was unaltered, were found to
be 18 millimetre in diameter.
Another point now falls to be discussed, and that is, the
frequency of spawning and moulting in the lobster. The
lobster which came under observation at Piel was one of
a batch collected at Bardsey Island in July, 1902. It was
then bearing eggs which had been extruded sometime
110 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
towards the end of the summer of 1901. ‘These eggs
commenced hatching early in August, 1902, and by the
end of that month had all hatched. Atter an interval of
less than six weeks, during which there was no possible
chance of the shell being cast and escaping observation,
another batch of eggs was extruded, without any interven-
ing moult. That is, this lobster has definitely produced
one batch of eggs each year, for two successive years, with-
out moulting. Of the batch of five lobsters referred to at
the beginning of this article, two moulted very soon after
their eggs hatched and have produced no other eggs, two
produced eggs without moulting, but only one was actually
observed in the act, and the remaining one has done
nothing. |
Dr. H. C. Williamson in his valuable paper * Contribu-
tious to the lite history of the edible crab,” gives impor-
tant information on the spawning and moulting of that
crustacean, and also a summary of the opinions held by
various zoologists on the same process in the lobster.
Dr. Williamson states: “‘ A crab does not always cast
immediately it hatches its eggs. It very often carries
eggs two years in succession.” And again the crab * Will
keep on having successive batches of eggs until the supply
of sperms is exhausted.”
Herrick in his summary of observations on the
American lobster (p. 222), states: “ The lobster does not
spawn oftener than once in two years. ‘The spawning
period is probably a biennial one, one set of eggs (summer
eggs) being laid in July or August (at Woods Holl), and
the following set in two years from that time. One has
only to examine the ovary of a lobster which has just
hatched a brood—that is one year from the time of last
* Highteenth Annual Report, Fishery Board for Scotland, Part III.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. Lil
spawning—to be convinced that annual spawning is an
anatomical impossibility.”
Khrenbaum was of the opinion that the Huropean
lobster produced eggs only once in four years, and
Fullarton considered that it did not spawn two years in
succession. Prince on the other hand does not favour the
theory of biennial spawning.
Herrick, in a footnote on p. 72, suggests: “ The best
way to test the question by experiment would be to take
a female which had recently hatched a brood, and keep
her alive until the following summer, when the next batch
of eggs would be due, in case the spawning period is a
biennial one.” This experiment was conducted by
Cunningham at Cornwall. Of five lobsters which had
hatched their eggs under his observation, and which were
placed in a floating box in September, socn after the eggs
had hatched, one was found to be berried in October, one
produced no eggs, though the ovary was ripe in the
following February, two cast their shells, and one escaped.
The experiment has also been carried out in America, and
Herrick has quite recently published a paper entitled
“The reproductive period of the lobster.”* This paper
deals with the American species, and gives some later
views based upon direct experiments with the lving
animal. Herrick states: “ The theory of biennial spawn-
ing is supported by a variety of testimony. The true
answer to the question * How often does the mature lobster
lay her eggs?’ is, therefore, ‘ Once in two years as a rule.’
On June 19th, 1900, Mr. Vinal Edwards placed in a
floating car thirty-six lobsters from which the old external
eggs had been removed, fed them regularly, and on the
first of each month following caught one of the animals
*U.S. Fish. Commission Bulletin for 1901, pp. 161-166 (1902).
112 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
and preserved its ovaries. When the last survivor was
taken, May Ist, 1901, just ten months and twelve days
from the beginning of the experiment not one of the
animals had laid eggs. Further an examination of the
ovaries disclosed no evideiice of absorption of the ova, or
abnormal retardation of their growth, such as we might
look for upon the theory of annual spawning—nothing in
fact but a slow regular growth of the organs.” Further,
* The theory of biennial spawning is supported: (1) By
the statistics of the fishery; (2) by the anatomy of the
ovary of the adult female taken at different seasons; (3)
by the ratio of growth of a given generation of ovarian ova
for stated periods; (+) by observations on aniunals kept
alive for long periods; (5) by the evidence of the rapid
growth of ovarian eggs of spawners for any given year,
during the height of the breeding season. It is to be
expected that the rule to which the majority conforms has
many exceptions in individual cases, for variation is the
rule of hfe. It seems quite probable that occasionally a
lobster may lay eggs in two consecutive seasons, and that
in other cases the normal biennial period may eyen be
prolonged, but I have nothing further to offer under this
head.”
Much of the evidence in support ot IHerrick’s latest
conclusions on the theory of biennial spawning appears to
be based upon the experiment carried out by Mr.
Edwards. This experiment was not carried out on the
lines suggested by Herrick in his work on the lobster, and
is not altogether a satisfactory one. There is nothing to
show that the eggs carried by the lobsters at the beginning
of the experiment, hatched out naturally and were there-
fore extruded during the previous year, and there was no
obvious need to kill one lobster each month to discover
whether it was going to extrude eggs or not. ‘The better
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 43
and more conclusive plan would have been to allow the
eggs to hatch and then keep the whole of the series of
adult females alive, till they extruded another batch of
egos. The lobsters killed in the early paxt of the experi-
ment had little opportunity to produce again, and none
were alive to extrude eggs at the end of one complete year,
The fact that one of Cunningham’s batch of lobsters
produced eggs a few weeks after the previous lot had
hatehed, and the further evidence obtained at Piel, shows
quite clearly that the views held by Hhrenbaum and
Fullarton are erroneous. If it be possible for the
Kuropean lobster to extrude another series of eggs within
a short period after the previous eggs hatch, there appears
to be no anatomical reason why the American lobster
eannot also do the same. ‘The difference between the
Huropean and American lobster is very slight.
The conclusion which is forced upon one regarding the
spawning and moulting, then, is that a female lobster
may, and does occasionally, produce eggs for two years at
least in succession, without moulting, possibly for a
longer period, and that moulting, after the animal has
become reproductive only occurs at intervals which will
no doubt depend largely upon the various factors
influencing the condition of the creature.
114 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPRING AND AUTUMN HERRING.
By J. T. Jenxins, D.Se., Ph.D.
(Lecturer in Biology, Hartley Gniversity College, Southampton).
In all districts where a great herring fishery exists
there is evidence of two main spawning seasons, the one
being in the spring, the other in the autumn, and in the
present paper the terms “ Spring-herring ” and “* Autumn-
herring ” are respectively applied to herring which spawn
in the spring or autumn.
In the Irish Sea the herring fishery is relatively not of
great importance, and the movements of the shoals have
not been studied in detail. On the Lancashire coasts
their movements are very uncertain, but in the southern
portion of the district they are more regular.
“The principal shoals visit North Wales im October
and November, some also early in May and June.”
Spawning probably takes place here in the autumn or
winter. The Isle of Man herring fishery is also carried
on in the autumn, commencing in June and lasting till
October. In the latter month spawning herring have
been taken off Douglas.t There seems to be little or no
evidence as to a spring spawning, but further information
on the subject is necessary.
Considerable difterence of opinion has existed as to
whether (1) these two groups of herring constitute difter-
ent races, and if this be granted, whether (2) such races
exhibit any morphological difterences which are capable
of measurement.
With regard to the first question, the separation of her-
ring into two distinct races, which spawn at different
*Herdman & Dawson: Fishes and Fisheries of the Irish Sea,
p. 60. é Nae te
t Holdsworth: Deep Sea Fishing and Fishing Boats, p. 539.
London, 1874.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 115
times in the year, we have two contradictory opinions,
each of which has been maintained by competent inves-
tigators. Heimcke believes that there are two distinct
races, but the Scandinavian and Danish authorities
contradict this.
In connection with this we have to decide whether the
herring spawns more than once in the same year. From
what is known of other fish one is led to decide in the
negative. Heincke™ is of opinion that spawn has never
been found twice in the same year on the same spawning
ground, which would be the case if the same herring
spawned twice in one year.
Cunninghamt directly contradicts this since he says
that two spawning periods have undoubtedly been
observed in one year in the same neighbourhood.
Matthews} also believes that herring spawn twice in the
same year. He believes that the herring that spawn off
Ballantrae in February and March, and those which
spawn oft Campbeltown in spring and then swim into
Loch Fyne in the summer as spent herring, become ripe
there, and spawn for the second time from August to the
end of October.
If the difference between two successive spawning
periods is always one year, then obviously spring herring
will remain spring herring.
There is still another view as to the interval between
two successive spawning periods. The Scandinavian§ and
*Naturgeschichte des Herings. Berlin, 1898. Text, p. 47.
} The Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of -the
British Islands, p. 151. Juondon, 1896.
* Fourth Ann. Rep. Scot. Fish. Bd., p. 61.
§Trybom. Sillundersokningar vid Sveriges Vestkust. Hosten
1888. Beriittelse till Kongl. Civildepartementet. Stockholm, 1889,
p- 12; and Smitt, Om sillrasernas betydelse. Bihang till K. Svenska
Vet. Akad. Handlingar, Band 14. Afd, IV, No. 12, Stockholm,
Pees. p. 13,
116 ‘TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Danish authors believe that a period of eighteen months
elapses between two successive spawning periods in which
case the spring herring of one year would become the
autumn herring of the next, and the autumn herring of
one year would become the spring herring of the next year
but one.
Heincke vigorously contests this opinion. — He says*
if the interval between two successive spawning periods
exceeded one year, then we should get an equal distribution
of spawning herring in all months of the year. This he
states does not actually occur. His argument, however,
does not apply if the interval were approximately eighteen
months, since we should then still have two principal
spawning periods——in spring and autumn..
It is thus seen that considerable diversity of opinion
exists as to the separation of the herring into two groups
~—autumn and spring spawning.
If it be granted, for the sake of argument, that such a
separation really exists, it now remains to inquire into
the alleged differences between such supposed races.
Heincke, in a colossal work already cited, has gone into
great detail with regard to these differences, and has put —
forward a formula based upon body and head measure-
ments by means of which he claims to be able to separate
the two races.
Although the present paper is devoted to a criticism of
Heincke’s methods and results, it is more with a view of
re-opening the whole question for discussion than of
deprecating the conclusions of Heincke.
In the first place it is necessary to explain the
“ Formule ” of Heimeke, and the methods of measurement
applied by him on which the formule are based, and
according to which he differentiates herring into autumn
and spring-spawning races.
* op. cit., p. 49,
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 117
In the first instance Heincke made his measurements
with regard to four characteristics. Subsequently he
extended his observations to include a large number of
eharacters; he found, nevertheless, that the four characters
originally chosen by him gave him the most important
results.
These four characters are :—
1. Distance of the dorsal fin from the end of the snout.
Measured from the end of the snout with the mouth
closed, to the root of the first fin ray of the dorsal fin.
“D” in Heincke’s Tables
2. Distance of the ventral fin from the end of the snout.
Measured from the end of the snout with the mouth closed
to the root of the first fin ray of the ventral fn. “V”
in the Tables.
3. Distance of the Anus from the tip of the snout.
“A” in the Tables.
4. Length of the base of the Anal fin. From the root
of the first to the root of the last fin ray.of the Anal fin.
“An” in the Tables.
From these four measurements Heincke beheved that
he could distinguish spring from autumn-spawning her-
ring, provided a sufficiently large number of individuals
were taken and the average calculated, otherwise the
individual variation would be too great.
The characteristics are always expressed by Heincke as
relative and not as absolute measurements, and they are
expressed as a ratio of the total length, inclusive of the
caudal fin.
A comparison of a large number of measurements
showed that
1. The distance of the dorsal tin varied from 2°08 to 2°47
yh \ ventral Hy 1°97 to 2°28
oer ‘ anus Sy 1°41 to 1°65
4, The length of the base of the anal fin from 12°5 to 7°65
-
118 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCTETY.
In order to make comparisons easier the ratios ex-
pressing the distance of the dorsal fin from the tip of the
snout are divided into four groups each of which is
distinguished by a number : —
1. When the ratios varied from 2:08 to 2:17
2. * 5 ih » wiS toe
3. ” ” ” ” 2°28 to 2°37
4. Ke m y » SOO tO aaa
In a similar manner each of the other ratios was divided
into four groups with the exception of the distance of the
anus which was divided into five. To each of these groups
descriptive numbers or letters were applied, viz. :—
Distance of Ventral Fin. Distance of Anus. Length of Anal Fin.
a. 1:97 to 2:04 O 1:41 to 1:45 A 80 to 92
bin 2085732) | 4 i | eb ss dee B. 93..,,. 4:08
Gr ole een) Ty AsO Le a cdeoe C. , 106. ae
d. EMS. ay L360 DD. ee
291 ,, 298 | |
| IV. 161 ., 1-65 |
Tn the first place it should be noted that the formule
do not express what they are intended to, and that it is
quite possible that they can convey false impressions.
For instance it is quite possible that two groups of
spring herring, to each of which Ileincke’s average
formula 2bII. applies, are really much more unlike one
another than one of them is unlike a group of autumn
herring to which Heincke’s formula 2al. applies.
This difterence may theoretically be very great, as may
be seen on reference to the following table :—
Formula. Indices.
Me Eee” Ye i Dy. 1 ae
SbLT, “Sprite herrmypt f. /i2./8 2°18
) 9?
Yal. Autumn herring............ 2°27
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 119
In every respect the second group of spring herring 1s
_more like the autumn herring group than it is like the
first group of spring herring.
That this discrepancy actually occurs in Heincke’s work
may be seen on reference to the following table :—
Indices.
Formula. D. Ve: A.
Ne ag
Tab. 108 * 13 Spring herring
mom me Dollart ............
Tab. 136 ¢ 24 Spring herring
2bIT. Zt AL eo
from Stralsund............... Y2bI1. 2-20 2:05 | 1°58
Tab.143{ 35 Autumn herring
from Gothland Bank ...... | 2all. 220 2-03) leas
*op. cit. Tab. u. Taf. p. 123.
i » 5 149:
} ” » 156.
From this it appears that the spring herring from
Stralsund resemble the autumn herring of the Gothland
Bank much more than they do another group of spring
herring from the Dollart, and the difference between the
two groups of spring herring is nowhere more marked
than where the formule are similar, that is, in the case
of the distance of the ventral fin. It would have been far
better to have employed, instead of an arbitrary formula,
either the averages themselves or to have effected a
comparison by means of curves based on these averages.
Then it would be possible to form a true conception of
the actual relationship of the various groups of herring
which Heincke investigated, which is _ practically
impossible under present conditions,
But it is even more correct to take the individual
herring since Heincke himself writes (1. c. p. LVII.):—
M |
120. TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOO!, BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
\
“Das korperliche Bild, dass die einzelnen Lassen
bieten, ist nicht minder interessant. IJhre Unterschiede
von einander sind gering und erreichen in der Regel
nicht diejenigen, die wir an verschiedenen Species der
Gattung Clupea wahrnehmen. Aber sie sind nicht
minder scharf und so bezeichnend ausgepragt, dass jedes
Individuum den deutlichen Stempel seiner Rasse (seines
Stammes, seiner Familie) tragt. Und das nicht nur in
einzelnen, wenigen Higenschaften seines Korpers, son—
dern wie man annehmen muss, in allen Higenschaften
und auf jedem Stadium seiner Entwicklung.”
Heincke summarises the results of his most recent
investigations as to the differences between spring and
autumn herring quite at the end of his book (0. ¢. Text
125-128). It is to be regretted that in Table 3 he has
only grouped together a small number of groups of ripe
spring and autumn herring for the purposes of com-
parison and these are just those which exhibit a difference
in the formula with respect to the ratio of the distance of
the ventral fin from the tip of the snout. According to
this summary it appears that the average formula of
spring herring is 2bII.; of autumn herring 2al. or 2all.
But suppose we now turn to the volume of Tables, p.
196-199, Table 193. Here we have a complete summary
of -the average of the body measurements of the various
local forms, and it appears that the average formula of
the autumn herring is sometimes 2bII. (7.c. the true
spring herring formula), and that the average formula of
the spring herring may be 2al. or 2all. (true autumn
herring average formula).
In this Table there are eight groups of spring herring
which do not possess the formula 2bII. They are :—
Tab. 180. East Coast of Scotland. 2all. (Autumn
herring formula).
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. OE
Tab. 56. Bergen Sommersild. 2bIII.
at: » Vaarsild. 2aII. (Autumn herring
formula).
», D9. Utsire a Mall. ( i Me
pe Ose Lanford. tale
OL. i 1bII.
Peet. otralsund. QbITT.
2) 8) Schiei: 3bII*.
With respect to autumn herring we have the following
groups with incorrect formule :—
Tab. 105. Terschelling. 2bII. (Spring herring
formula).
» 97. Mouth ofthe Elbe. 2bIl. ( e ik
Pee LOL. ‘ 2b ( i :
et 102. ‘ 2bIII.
,» 1038. Helgoland. 2bILI.
Peo. VV. 0! Sylt. 2bIiI.:
,, 127. Scotland, Fair Island. 2bII. (Spring herring
formula).
“aga G40 a Peterhead. lall.
¥ 50. Bohuslan. — IbII.
ah) 93. Varberg. lal.
» 98. Bay of Kiel. 2bIL.
This last group should not have been left out of the
summary (Text p. 126), since they are not only herring
from the Bay of Kiel but the formula is the average of
47 individuals and not as the other three groups only 30,
21 and 19, respectively, and the greater the number of
individuals the greater the accuracy of the average
formula.
Heincke himself writes, p. 126:—“ Die Genauigkeit
aller Mittelwerte einer Rasse haingt ab von der Zahl n
der Individuen, aus denen das Mittel gezogen ist.”
*In Tab. 193 this is given as2. It should be 3 (see Tab. 18, p. 40.
Index = 2°28). .
122 =PRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Quite at the end of his work (p. 128) Heimcke writes : —
‘“Hiernach bekunden die von Petersen gegen mich ins
Feld getiihrten Messungen von Herbst und Frihjahrs-
herigen aus den dinischen Gewassern, die ich in den
Tab. LXXXI. bis LA XXIX. s. 105 bis 108 wiedergegeben
habe, evnen unzweifelhaft sicheren Unterschived zwischen den
beiden Saisonrassen, indem bei den Friihjahrsheringen
die Mittelformen 2bII., bei den Herbstheringen 2aII. und
2al. vorkommen.”’
When these Tables are examined it is seen that Heincke
is incorrect; Table 82 gives for 15 autumn herring from
Varberg in the Kattegat the average formula 2bII., that
is to say the average formula of spring herring. Further,
in the examples cited above it is seen that the formule of
Heincke do not hold good for the herring of the Danish
waters, for example, in the case of Limfjord (two groups)
and Varberg.
To return to Heincke’s summary (Table 193) :—
SPRING HERRING.
Tables with correct average formula 2bII. 15 we. 65%
e other K ‘ 8 2.€. 35 %.
AvutuMN HERRING.
Tables with correct average formula 2al. or 2all.
17 i.e. 60°7 %
~ other ‘ ON 11 2.¢. 39°S.%
Again, we have 30 body measurements of full herring
from the Greifswalder Bodden given in Table 138 (p. 151),
which herring were captured in November, 1891.
In Table 139 (p. 152) we have the skull measurements
of 20 of these herring given.
In the summary of body measurements (pp. 196- 199),
the 30 Greifswalder herring are not given, but. in the
SHA-FISHERIES LABORATORY, 123
summary of skull measurements (‘Table 194, p. 200) these
20 examples from ‘Table 139 are described as spring
herring, this description must be based on skull measure-
ments alone,” since they were full herring taken wn
November. The amount of importance that Heincke
attaches to skull measurements may be gathered from the
following extract (Text I. s. LVII.):—
“Man kann eine Rasse so gut an den ausseren Dimen-
sionen des Korpers wie an den, Bau der Wirbelsaule oder
der Gestalt des Schidels oder dem besonderen Gange ihrer
Nntwickelung erkennen.’ And further (p. LVIII.):—
“ Man sieht sofort den grossen Unterschied der Rassen in
den Schadeln, der jenem der Menschenrassen nicht
nachsteht. Dem extrem brachycephalen Schddel des
Islandherings steht zum Beispiel der ausgepragt dolico-
cephale des Strémlings gegeniiber.”
As explained above, Heincke omitted the average
formule of these Greifswalder herring from his summary
of body measurements in Table 193.
If one refers to Table 138 (p. 151) it is seen that these
herring possess the formula 2alI. (Indices D 2°24, Y.
2049, A. 1535), that is an autwmn herring formula.
Here, then, we have a peculiar instance of herring,
which are “full” in November, possessing the skull of
spring herring and the body of autumn herring.
Again Heincke describes (Table 127, pp. 142 and 143)
61 full herring from the Fair Islands as autumn herring,
although they were taken in June and possess the spring
herring formula 2bII. Fourteen other examples of the
same shoal (Table 126, p. 141), possess the autumn
herring formula 2alI.
Heincke found the correct. autumn herring formula in
*P. 195:—‘‘ Die Mittel derjenigen Higenschaften, die fiir eine
sichere Unterscheidung der Lokalformen besonders wichtig sind,
sind fett gedruckt.”’
124 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the case of ten herring (Table 141), from Bornholm, the
average formula being 2alI. For 25 herring from Korsor
(Table 75), the so-called autumn herring formula also
holds good. If we, however, take the first ten of these for
comparison with the ten Bornholm fish, we find that the
formula no longer holds good. If Heincke had only
received 10 herring from Korsér instead of 25, then he
would have referred this ‘local race” to the spring
herring with the average formula 2bII. (Indices D 2°25,
V. 2057, A. 1°53). When one takes a certain number of
individuals from Heincke’s tables for investigation, it
becomes possible to change autumn into spring herring,
and vice versd, at any rate occasionally.
For instance take Table 23. Here we have 21 herring
which give the average formula 2alII, that is the autumn
herring formula. If, however, the first ten only are
taken we get the average formula for spring herring 2bIT.
(Indices D. 2°19, V. 2°05, A. 1°54).
One is, therefore, from a consideration of Heincke’s
own tables, forced to the conclusion that neither measure-
ments carried out on single specimens nor the average
formula obtained by measurements of an indefinite
number of individuals lead one to a certain and definite
separation of herring into the two groups of autumn and
spring herring.
Without going so far as to actually say that no such
difference exists, it seems sutficiently obvious that more
measurements are necessary to establish Ieimcke’s
arguments, and it is also obvious that the results of these
new measurements must be ditterently expressed.
Te
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 125
THe Fourure or Britiso Fisueries INVESTIGATION.
By Professor W. A. Herpman, D.Sc., F.R.S.
The past year has been noteworthy for two events,
either of which may have an important influence upon
the future course of scientific investigations bearing upon
our national sea-fisheries. One of these was the an-
nouncement, on January 3lst, that our Government had
given its adhesion to the International Scheme of North
Sea Investigation; and the second was the presentation
to Parhament, and subsequent publication, of the Report
of the Committee on Ichthyological Research. ‘This
Committee was appointed by the President of the Board
of Trade on August 15th, 1901, and meetings were held
at which witnesses were examined and results discussed
during the twelve months from September, 1901, to
September, 1902. ‘The Report of the Committee was
signed and sent to the President on October 18th, L902,
was laid before both Houses of Parlhament early in
December, and was issued as a parliamentary paper about
the end of the year.
At two successive annual meetings (11th June, 1901,
and 10th June, 1902) of the Sea-Fisheries Authorities at
the Board of Trade, the President (Mr. Gerald Balfour)
has referred to the appointment of the Ichthyological
Committee, has taken credit for the comprehensive scope
of the terms of reference, and has given as a reason for
postponing the consideration of various important
questions connected with sea-fisheries investigation that
these matters were being considered by the Ichthyological
Committee, and that he must await the Report.
His words at the last meeting are so important, and so
126 ‘TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIEVY,
re-assuring as to the future prospects of fisheries work,
that it is pleasant to recall them. On the 10th June,
1902, in replying to the arguments put forward by the
Northumberland, the North Eastern, the Devon and the
Lancashire and Western Committees in favour of “ The
establishment and maintenance by the Government of one
or more laboratories for carrying on the work of fishery
research, or, failing that, the provision from Imperial
sources of the Funds necessary to render more efficient
and useful the laboratories which at present exist,” the
President (Official Report, p. 18) said :—
“ T have listened with great interest to the observations
that have been made, and for myself I have great
sympathy with the remarks that have been addressed to
me upon this subject. At the same time I would refrain
at present from expressing any final opimion upon the
matter, and especially upon the matter in detail, and for
this reason, that it is one of the subjects which, as I
observed in my opening remarks, comes so clearly within
the reference of the [chthyological Research Committee
that it is really necessary to wait for the report of that
Committee before we make up our minds what ought to
be done. But you may be sure that, so far as my
influence is concerned, if anything can be done in put-
suance of the report of that Committee to assist scientific
investigation by giving aid to laboratories or otherwise,
I should be most happy if that result could be achieved.”
While we must approve of Mr. Balfour's caution, in the
earlier part of this statement, in reframing from
expressing more than “great sympathy” until he had
before him the report of the Ichthyological Research
Committee, we may all rejoice, now that that Committee
has reported favourably, at the declaration he makes in
his final sentence that his influence will be given in
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. a Dall
backing up any recommendation in the report that State
aid should be given to laboratories for scientific fisheries
investigation.
With that promise from the President of the Board of
Trade, and in view of the strong recommendations in the
report of the Ichthyological Committee, there can surely
be no doubt that the Board ot Trade, either alone or
supported by all the fishery organisations of the country,
will without. further delay urge upon Parliament the
necessity of taking immediate steps, and, if required,
legislation, im order to subsidise the necessary laboratories
under the direction of a Fisheries Council for England.
That is only one of a series of definite recommendations
made by the Ichthyological Committee with the object of
organising a comprehensive national scheme of fisheries
investigation, and in view of the attention which the
President has directed to the report of that Committee at
the Statutory meetings of the Sea-Fisheries Authorities,
it will be well to consider in some detail what these
recommendations are.
As the Report shows, the Ichthyological Committee
considered it their duty to inquire very carefully into the
details of the (then) proposed international scheme for
the investigation of the North Sea, as given in the publi-
cations of the Christiania Conference of 1901. The
Christiania programme, supplemented by the evidence of
witnesses and experts, was the only information then
available, and it is that programme which is discussed
and alluded to in various parts of the “‘ Blue Book ” issued
by the Ichthyological Committee. The examination of
important witnesses, now before the public in the pages
of the Blue Book, makes it evident that there is great
diversity of opinion amongst scientific experts (both
biological and hydrographical) in this country, as to :—-
128 ‘TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
(1) The best methods of carrying out the Christiania
programme ;
(2) The reliability of any results obtained ;
(3) The applicability of such results to our British Sea-
Fisheries. ;
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the
Ichthyological Committee, on May 29th (see Report, p.
Xx11.), requested their four scientific or expert members
to go into these questions as a Sub-committee, and draw
up a memorandum.
It is scarcely necessary to point out that the clearest
distinction must be drawn between the international
scheme (1) as a piece of pure scientific research, and (2
as fisheries investigation which will solve practically and
within a given time, and by given means, certain questions
of importance to British industries. Of the imterest and
importance, to scientific men, of the scheme as a piece of
pure research there ought to be, and probably there is, no
doubt. Speaking for myself for the moment, I am in
thorough sympathy with the scheme from that point of
view. It is just the kind of oceanographic research that I
think most desirable and fascinating, and which I believe
will lead to qualitative results of great interest to biologists,
and, I suppose, also to hydrographers. But there is the
greatest difference between (1) such qualitative results,
which add certain new facts to science, and in regard to the
economic importance of which all that can be said is that
each and every scientific fact will some day find its
application and may at any moment become of real im-
portance to mankind, and (2) immediate quantitative
results given as the outcome of investigations directed to
particular practical problems. It is from the latter point
of view that there seem grave reasons to doubt the
adequacy and practical utility of the international scheme.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 129
If the officials who have advised our Government to
take part in the scheme will declare that they regard it
merely as a piece of scientific investigation undertaken
jointly with certain foreign savants, with the object of
obtaining scientific data, and in the hope that the know-
ledge so acquired may possibly throw light on some of
our fishery problems, then I, for one, will cordially
approve of the enlightened action of our Government in
supporting scientific research to that extent. But I fear
that those who have promoted the scheme will make no
such statement. If we may trust newspaper reports the
Government have made it clear that they have been
induced to join (1) in the hope of getting international
regulation of the fisheries, which is remote, and even if
attained would be of questionable importance, and (2)
by the prospect of getting, within a couple of years,
reliable results which will be of practical importance
in connection with the fishery questions which affect
Great Britain. ©. How unlikely it is that any such
results will be obtained can only be realised by those who
have considerable experience of the irregularity of dis-
tribution of fish and other living things in the sea.
The scheme, as formulated in the Christiania pro-
gramme, is a scientific investigation which is purely
experimental, and which it will be very interesting to
watch. But there is absolutely no certainty about the
results. There is not even a reasonable probability that
the work will lead to any conclusions of economic im-
portance. The report of the Ichthyological Committee
has made this clear, especially to naturalists and practical
trawlers who have their own experience to judge from.
The Committee states that the ‘‘ fundamental practical
problem at the present time is to establish the fact of an
increased or decreased yield of the fisheries within the
130 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
available area of supply, and the most pressing part of
this problem relates to the more sedentary and local fish,
such as flat fish.” That, it will be generally agreed, is what
we in England want, and moreover it is obvious that, as
the Committee reports, “To establish the fact of an
increase or decrease of the fisheries, information must be
obtained as to the amount of fish caught on particular
grounds by vessels sufficiently numerous to supply data
representative of the total yield.” The method in all
such investigations must be the one of taking adequate
samples and drawing conclusions from these samples.
“Tt follows that any scheme of research, however
elaborately planned or carefully carried out, will fail in
its object if the samples are not taken over a sufficiently
large area, and at sufticiently frequent intervals, to be
truly representative of the area and period which they
are supposed to represent.” Now, we have ready to our
hand in the cargoes of fish landed at our ports by the
commercial fishing fleets, samples incomparably larger,
more numerous, and more frequently and regularly taken
than those of any number of specially equipped vessels
likely to be put on our seas by any Huropean Govern-
ments. It is one of the recommendations of the
Ichthyological Committee that these ‘ commercial
samples ” be made available for scientific work, that statis-
tical returns in the right form, giving all the particulars
required, such, e.g., as exact localities, be arranged for,
and that officials be stationed at the principal fishing
ports to inspect the catches and select any samples
required for further examination in the laboratory.
It would be possible, perhaps, with a few special vessels,
in a few years, to make an approximate fisheries survey
of limited circumscribed areas such as the Irish Sea, the
Clyde sea-area, or the Knglish Channel, but not of the
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. | 131
enormous area of the North Sea, which is at least twenty
times the size of the Irish Sea.
Special vessels have, however, important work to do,
which will obtain for us information supplementary to
that derived from the fishing fleets. They should be sent
to survey special localities, to investigate spawning
erounds, nurseries where small fish congregate, and any
other areas of importance in connection with particular
problems. And when set on work of this kind no other
duties such as periodic cruises, mainly of hydrographic
importance, should be allowed to interrupt the progress
and continuity of these investigations.
One of the chief features of the international scheme
is that all the vessels of the participating countries shall
undertake quarterly cruises along certain lines, taking
hydrographic and other observations at fixed stations.
li is clear from the evidence given before the Ichthyo-
logical Committee that there is at least considerable
difference of opinion even amongst hydrographers as _ to
the value of the observations obtained on such cruises,
and what direct bearing they have upon the fishery
problems in which this country is really interested it
would be difficult to say. It may be practically impor-
tant, if any reliable conclusions can be drawn from
observations made three months apart, to the countries
bordering on the Baltic, and possibly to those interested
in the deep Norwegian Sea, to know something of the
movements of bodies of water differing very slightly im
temperature and in density ; but the influence of such varia-
tions upon the habits and abundance of the flat fish in our
shallow North Sea has still to be demonstrated, and must
at the best be so indirect, so slight, and so inconstant as
to be upset by storms, chance winds and floods bringing
an influx of fresh water from the rivers.
LY, TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
The Ichthyological Committee had evidence from two
eminent hydrographers, Dr. H. R. Mill and Captain
Tizard, R.N., that both the surface and the deeper
layers of water in a shallow area like the North Sea
change in character very much, both as regards one
place compared with another and the one _ place
compared with itself, at different times. Now,
quarterly cruises may obviously miss many such changes,
and therefore conclusions drawn from the observations
may be erroneous. Moreover, it is very doubtful whether
the sedentary flat fish in which we in this country are
primarily interested are affected by the conditions which
will be observed on the quarterly cruises. For these and
other reasons it.is evident (1) that the quarterly cruises,
as planned in the Christiania scheme, are not sufficiently
numerous to give reliable results, and (2) that these
hydrographic results, even if obtained, have little or no
bearing upon our most important fishery problems. They
are also open to the objection that once in three months
they take the special steamers away from any particular
investigation upon which they may be engaged for a
period so indefinite that Captain Tizard estimated it at —
one week and Dr. Mill at three.
The international scheme, as laid out in the Christiania
programme, is evidently based upon the hypothesis that
sound conclusions may be drawn from samples, both
hydrographical and biological, taken by the few special
steamers making periodic traverses and surveys over great
extents of sea. A consideration of the size of the areas
to be covered, of the small number of vessels available,
and of the limited time, makes it certain that the samples
to be taken will be relatively far apart both in space
and time. Now there is much evidence, both in the pages
of the Ichthyological Committee’s report and also in
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 133
general biological literature, to shew that such samples
may not be representative and are, therefore, unreliable
because of the manner in which both the physical and the
biological conditions may change within narrow limits.
This is such a fundamental matter and has such an im-
portant bearing upon not only the present issue but upon
all our future investigations that it will be well to
illustrate it by a few instances.
Mr. Archer’s detailed analysis of the observations taken
by the Scottish Fishery Board in the Firth of Forth, has
shewn that hauls taken under similar conditions on
neighbouring areas may differ very considerably in their
results; and the observations made from our own steamer
in Luce Bay last November, given by Mr. Johnstone at
a subsequent page of this report, demonstrate the same
fact.
The importance of these observations in connection with
any proposal to base conclusions upon the results of a
comparatively small number of hauls taken at distant
intervals over a relatively.enormous area like the North
Sea, must be obvious. ae | |
We find such an experienced navigator and hydro-
grvapher as Captain Tizard, R.N., Assistant Hydrographer
to the Admiralty, stating in his evidence (in answer to
Q. 2,125), that observations taken four times a year
across the entrances to the North Sea would not show the
nature of the water going in and out at all, that it would
be necessary to take observations at much more frequent
intervals (2,128), that in a place like the Channel between
Dover and Calais the observing stations ought to be very
close together, certainly not more than 3 or 4 miles apart
(2,141), while in the space between the Orkneys and
Norway stations say twenty miles apart would probably
suffice, but that would have to be determined by. experi-
134 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
ment. Many others of Captain Tizard’s answers on pp.
96-100 throw the gravest doubts upon the validity of ©
conclusions drawn from such infrequent and scattered
observations as are proposed in the Christiania
programme.
Then again in Appendix Y. (p. 153), we find Captain
Tizard suggesting a scheme by which hydrographic
observations should be taken at stations 10 miles apart
along six sectional lines in the North Sea during
February, May, August and November. We do not know
whether these lines recommended by the Assistant
Hydrographer are now being investigated under the
international scheme, but in any case the results would
seem open to many of the objections shown by Captain
Tizard, in his evidence, to apply to all such occasional
observations in a shallow area like the North Sea.
Dr. H. R. Mill, an expert in hydrography, who has
himself conducted investigations on the physical con-
ditions of the waters round our coast, speaking of the
international investigations, of which he approved (Q.
1,663), said: —‘‘ I should say that after ten years it would
be quite possible to get a very fair idea of the normal
conditions of things.” It would be interesting to know
what he would expect to get after three years. ‘Then,
again, he considers (Q. 1,716) that quarterly cruises would
not give sufficient information. In fact, Dr. Mill,
although he recommends the international scheme, and
was himself one of the British delegates to the Christiania
Conference, evidently from his answers (p. 74, &e.), does
not consider that the observations taken in accordance
with the programme will be sufficient to enable us to base
sound conclusions within the limited time.
It is important to notice also that the two expert
witnesses who have had most experience of practical
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 1s
fisheries investigations and of work at sea, viz., Dr. T. W.
Fulton, of the Fishery Board for Scotland, and Mr.
K. W. L. Holt, of the Irish Board, are neither of them
favourable to the international scheme, and do not think
that it is likely to give us, within the specified time,
results that will be useful in connection with our British
Fisheries. Dr. Fulton (Q. 198) says:—‘“ I am quite con-
vinced that at the end of five years sufficient information
to say whether there is a decrease of the fish supply of
the North Sea, on the fishing grounds there, could not be
obtained.” |
There are other witnesses whose evidence is given in
the Ichthyological Committee’s report, and who expressed
full approval of the international scheme, but I do not
think that it can be said that any of these are men with
the practical experience of Tizard, Fulton and Holt. It
is clear, then, that the argument in the Memorandum
drawn up by some of the Committee is supported by the
evidence of some of the most important witnesses; and
under these circumstances many must sympathise with the
view expressed by Professor Ray Lankester, when, in his
evidence, he said :—*‘ I should much prefer to see public
money expended on a complete survey of the British Seas,
say, to the 100 fathom line all round the British coast,
to money being expended on this international
arrangement.”
Our conclusion, then, is that the international scheme,
although an interesting scientific investigation, which
may obtain results of great importance to the sciences of
hydrography and biology, is, from the point of view of our
Iinglish fisheries, an expensive experiment which is
unlikely to yield reliable results of practical importance,
within a reasonable time. The programme has not the
appearance of having been devised with a view to the
N
136 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
elucidation of our pressing fisheries problems, such as
those of the flat fish, and it may well be doubted whether
the quarterly cruises and other periodic surveys will yield
results upon which legislation can be based.
The Ichthyological Committee, in the constructive part
of their report, recommended a National Scheme of
fisheries research and organisation, into the constituent
elements and functions of which they enter in considerable
detail. This scheme provides what has long been felt
and often expressed as a great need in England, viz., a
Central Fisheries Board, having at its command labora-
tories, vessels and scientific men, and it also endeavours
to ensure the sympathy and help of the District Com-
mittees by giving them some representation on the
Central body.
The points dealt with in the report are (1) Statistics,
(2) Expert Staff, (3) Laboratories, (4) Vessels, (5) Central
Authority, and (6) Co-operation with Scotland and
Ireland; and the recommendations under these heads
may be briefly summarised, with comments, as follows :—
(1) Sraristics.—The Committee insist upon the neces-
sity for much fuller and more accurate statistics as to the
results of the commercial fisheries than are now supplied.
Returns must be obtained from the masters of fishing
vessels, and it is very desirable that full returns of all
fish caught, giving the localities and other particulars,
should be made compulsory.
(2) Expert Srarr.—In the first place a staff of trained
assistants is required at the principal fishing ports. to
deal with the returns obtained from the boats, to inspect
the catches landed and to select samples for further ex-
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 137
amination. Certain observations can be made and certain
particulars noted by such assistants carrying on statistical
work at the ports, but it is not suggested that they need
be laboratory biologists. Then, secondly, the samples
selected along with the statistical and any other informa-
tion should be sent for more detailed examination to the
nearest marine laboratory, there to be dealt with by the
Director and his scientific assistants.
(0) Laporatortes.—The Ichthyological Committee
point out that “the fishery interests of the Hast. coast, the
South coast and the West coast of England, respectively,
are, to some extent, distinct,” and they propose that these
three coasts should be treated independently, each having
its own marine laboratory, staff of workers, surveying
vessel and representatives on the Central authority. It
is recommended that, if possible, arrangements be made
so that (1) the Marine Biological Association Laboratory
at Plymouth be officially recognised as the head-quarters
for scientific fisheries work on the South coast, say from
the estuary of the Thames to the Bristol Channel; (2)
that the Liverpool Marine Biological and Fishery Labora-
tories be similarly the centre for work on the West coast ;
and (3) that if no sufficiently large and well-equipped
marine laboratory be already in existence on the Hast
coast, a new institution be erected at Grimsby, possibly in
connection with a fisheries museum, of which the
Buckland collection might form the nucleus. This new
Kast coast laboratory might possibly be more directly
under the control of the Fisheries Department of the
Board of Trade, and would furnish that Department with
the laboratories, experimental tanks and scientific assis-
tants, without which the officials cannot. be expected to
carry on original investigations.
The Ichthyological Committee, in making this recom-
188 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
ee
/ NS ray coASs i
5 aa
Fie. 1.—Sketch map of the British Islands for the purpose of
indicating the positions of the chief marine laboratories and sea-fish
hatcheries, and the proposed division of the coast of England into
three great fisheries districts—the East coast, the South and the
West,
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 139
mendation in regard to laboratories for the three coasts,
have, it will be observed, made use, so far as possible, of
existing institutions, and propose to enlist the services of
men who are already carrying on _ sea-fisheries
investigations.
(4) Vessets.—Hach of the three coasts, it is proposed,
should have a research or surveying steamer of the type
of a modern steam trawler, specially fitted up for
scientific investigations, and carrying on its work in con-
nection with the laboratory of that coast. In the article
which follows this will be found a scheme of investigation
showing how such a vessel could be employed on the
West coast.
(5) Cenrrat Auruority.The Ichthyological Commit-
tee recommend the formation of a “ Fishery Council for
England,” consisting of representatives of (a) the Board
of Trade, (6) the local Sea-Fisheries Authorities of the
three coasts, and (c) the scientific men in charge of the
three marine laboratories. ‘This Fishery Council would
be, to some extent, analogous to the Fishery Board for
Scotland, but more suitable in other respects to England,
where strictly local fisheries are more common than in
Scotland, and where local needs have to be more closely
studied. The Council would, it is hoped, be so represen-
tative as to unite the various fisheries interests and ensure
the co-operation of the different organisations, local and
central, now working at fishery problems. It is suggested
that the Fishery Council should meet monthly or.
quarterly, as occasion may require, at the Board of Trade,
to formulate and control schemes of investigation, to
receive reports on work done on the three coasts, and co-
relate observations, to recommend the allocation of grants
to the laboratories, and, generally, to report to Govern-
ment, through the Board of Trade, on the needs and
140 ‘TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
results of the work carried on by the steamers and the
laboratories.
(6) INTERNATIONAL Co-oPpERATION.—In order to secure
uniformity of action between the fisheries organisations
in England, Scotland and Ireland, to prevent overlapping
of areas and of investigations, and to arrange as to any
sub-division of work between the three countries, or with
foreign nations, the Ichthyological Committee recommend
that quarterly conferences should be held between repre-
sentatives of the Fishery Council for England, the
Fishery Board for Scotland, and the Irish Fishery Depart-
ment. “ The meetings of this conference would give an
Opportunity to the members of the three Central
Authorities to compare notes, to obtain information as
to what is being done in the three countries, and to make
suggestions to the three Central Authorities as to what
particular work should be undertaken by each” (Report,
p. xv.). Itis only to this extent—Quarterly Conferences
—that the Ichthyological Committee have considered it
practicable to constitute one Central Fisheries Department
for the United Kingdom. We may quote finally para-
graph 39 from the “Concluding Observations”’ of the
Report :——“‘ The Committee believe that by carrying out
these recommendations the State would recognise, co-
relate and control the work of the existing independent
organisations in the United Kingdom, and would build
up a scheme of Fishery Research of a thoroughly practical
character, centring, as regards England, in the Board of
Trade, and, at the same time, in intimate contact with the
fishing trade, the district committees, and the scientific
laboratories round the coast’ (p. xviii.).
SKA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 141
SCHEME FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE IRISH SEA.
(As drawn up by Professor W. A. Herpman, F.R.S., for
the Ichthyological Research Committee).
The suggestion, which I have made on several occa-
sions, that a detailed scientific survey of the Irish Sea
should be undertaken either by a Central Fisheries
Department or by the Lancashire District Committee in
co-operation with the Irish Fisheries Department, was
first proposed in 1892, and was printed, in part, in my
first Annual Report. More recently it was drawn up in
further detail, and forms a portion of the Report for 1900.
But as I had occasion last winter to revise and enlarge
the scheme considerably at the request of the Committee
on Ichthyologicai Research, who desired that I should
lay a detailed programme betore them, and as the matter
concerns Lancashire primarily, I think it well to reprint
here the essential part of what was submitted to that
_ Departmental Committee, with a few slight additions.
It is generally agreed, I think, that if one steamer is
to carry on all the work of our enlarged district, and if
police work is to be regarded as the first duty, then
sufficient time does not remain in which to carry out an
adequate programme of scientific investigation. The
following scheme is, therefore, drawn up on _ the
basis that one steamer would be devoted to scientific
and statistical work alone in the Irish Sea. It would be
better still if one such steamer from the Lancashire side
could collaborate with another from the Irish coast. In
addition to this work at sea by the steamer there is much
that must be done on shore at the ports of landing in order
to obtain the fullest and most reliable information as to
142 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the catches of the commercial fleets from the different
grounds in the area.
T assume that what we stand most in need of at present
is full and accurate statistics in regard to our fisheries,
and much more detailed information than we have as
to the distribution round the coast both of fishes in all
stages of growth, and also of the lower animals with
which they are associated, and upon which they feed. I
consider that what is necessary to give us that mforma-
tion is the nearest approximation we can make to a
census of certain parts of our seas, beginning with the
territorial waters and those off-shore grounds that
supply them, and are definitely related to them. ‘The
work would be partly of a statistical nature, and partly
scientific observations and investigations, and it seems
clear that it 1s only by such a combination of methods
that we can hope to settle many important fishery
questions. My contention, then, is that such an investiga-
tion of our seas must be made, that it is urgent and should
be made as soon as possible, and that the Irish Sea is
favourably situated to be made a test case before under-
taking the much wider and more difficult expanse of the
North Sea, complicated by international questions. The
Irish Sea is of moderate and manageable dimensions.* It
is all bounded by British territory and by sea fisheries
authorities, which might agree as to regulations. Its
depths and the nature of its bottom deposits are most
varied. It is a “self-contained” fish area, containing
spawning banks, feeding grounds, and “ nurseries.” ‘It
has several laboratories (Liverpool, Dublin, Port Erin,
and Piel) situated on its borders, which would form con-
venient centres for investigation, and it is controlled
*Tts wider area north of Holyhead contains about 10,000 square
miles, and is about one-twentieth part of the area of the North Sea.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 148
by powerful sea-fisheries authorities, two of which,
Lancashire and Ireland, might possibly be enabled to
combine to carry out the work.
In this scheme, then, I suppose that a steamer of the
size of a modern steam trawler, equipped with the
necessary gear and apparatus, and having two or more
scientific men on board, should devote all her time to
the exploration of the Irish Sea. Such a vessel would
cost about £6,000 to £8,000 to purchase, and the cost
of running her would be about £2,000 a year. I take
the month as the unit of time, and consider that every
observing station must be visited twelve times in the year.
If we plan four weekly voyages to different parts of
the area in each month, and lay out four days’ work in
each week, that will allow for occasional days off for
coaling, etc., and will give some extra working time in
fine months, which could be devoted to further exploration
outside the fixed programme. Bad weather will, no
doubt, occasionally interfere, but it may reasonably be
expected that in most months it will be possible to work
on at least sixteen days.
Two kinds of work at sea, in addition to the commercial
statistics obtained on shore, should be distinguished :-—
1. The systematic statistical work, consisting of
trawling and tow-netting along certain fixed lines,
always with the same apparatus, on the same ground
and at regular intervals. ‘This work would be kept in
close touch with the results obtained from the fishing
fleets. Incidentally it would yield valuable information
as to the efficiency of apparatus and the validity of the
samples, which in our small area would be relatively
numerous and taken at no great distance apart. Physical
observations and quantitative plankton work would be
carried on along with the trawling at each station.
144. TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
2. General exploration, such as faunistic work, the
tracing of areas of the sea bottom, the surveying of
spawning and rearing grounds, the determination of
the distribution of invertebrata. and of fishes, and the
investigation of specific points upon which information
was required, such as the presence of full herring at
certain times in Cardigan Bay. The programme for
this work would necessarily be elastic, and could only
be undertaken when it did not interfere with the fixed
observations under 1.
PROVISIONAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE WoRK.
It is proposed that in each month the first week
should be devoted to work in the important waters round
the Isle of Man, the second to the deep water off
Anglesey, the third to Cardigan Bay and the coast of
Wales, and the fourth to the shallow in-shore waters
of the Lancashire and Cheshire coasts.
Poirst , Week.
First Day.—Start from Fleetwood and steam west till
the 20 fathom line is reached, about 35 miles. This is
the region known as the “ Hole,” a very important
spawning ground for plaice and other flat fish. The
vessel should now take three hauls of the fish trawl,
each of two hours duration, along lines running east
and west, at depths of 20 to 25 fathoms. After the last
of these, a short haul should also be taken over a part
of the same ground with a shrimp trawl, in order to
obtain smaller fish and compare results. Plankton nets
will also be used simultaneously with the trawl, and
physical observations will be taken at the beginning
and end of each haul. The vessel will le for the night
in Port St. Mary Harbour.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 145
Second Day.—The vessel will steam south to the
deep water lying south and south-west of the Calf
Island, which we know to be the spawning ground of
eod, hake, haddock, and other fish. Three hauls with
the fish trawl and one with the shrimp trawl should be
taken along lines running north and south in water of
depths of from 30 to 50 fathoms. Plankton nets and
physical observations as before. Vessel to le for night,
according to weather, in Port St. Mary, Port Hrin, or
Piel harbours.
Third Day.—The vessel will steam to deep water
lying west of Isle of Man, and take two hauls of the
fish trawl and one of the shrimp net on the “reamy”’
ground, where the sole, the turbot, and the brili spawn,
at depths of 30 to 50 fathoms, and one haul of the fish
trawl on the mud at a depth of 70 to 80 fathoms. The
vessel will then run further to the north and take two
drags in the middle of the channel between Point of
Ayre and the Mull of Galloway, at a depth of 20 to
30 fathoms. Plankton and physical observations as
before at each station.
Fourth Day.—After spending the night at either Peel
or Ramsey, according to the wind, the vessel will trawl
from Ayre Point towards St. Bees Head, along the
20 fathom hne, and then south from King William’s
* Bank in the muddy depression of over 20 fathoms, also
along the Bahama Bank, off Maughold Head. ‘Two
hauls of the fish trawl should be taken at each of these
localities. Plankton and physical observations as before.
That finishes the statistical trawling investigation for
that week, and the vessel will then, according to circum-
stances, either return to Fleetwood to land material
and refit, or will stay out longer exploring the spawn-
ing grounds, etc., and doing other general faunistic work.
146 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Second Week.
First Day.—Start from Fleetwood and steam south-
west to the 20 fathom line opposite the mouth of the
Ribble (26 miles), where we have found the tongue of
deep water to be a spawning ground for haddock,
whiting, etc. Take three hauls from east to west in
depths of 20 to 30 fathoms, followed by one or two
hauls of shrimp trawl, and run south to Holyhead
harbour for night.
Start from Holyhead and trawl north-
Second Day.
west in depths of 30 to 50 fathoms, so as to make a
traverse across the channel by which water enters the
Lancashire district from the south. Lie at night in
Port Hrin or Port St. Mary, according to wind.
Third Day.—Steam directly south from Calf Island
towards Holyhead, and trawl in depths of 50 to 40
fathoms. Stay night in Holyhead.
Fourth Day.—Leave Holyhead and steam round
Skerries to north coast of Anglesey. Take haul along
the 20 fathom line towards Point Lynas. ‘Then take
two hauls of fish trawl in Red Wharf Bay and one of
shrimp trawl, and run into Straits for the night. Any
additional time that week could be spent in exploring
Red Wharf and Beaumaris Bays and the neighbourhood.
Remain week-end in Straits.
Third, .W-e ek,
First Day.—Steam through Menai Straits to, Carnar-
von Bay, and spend rest of day in making several
traverses of the shallow water between Anglesey and
Bardsey Island. Lie for the night in St. Tudwell Roads.
Second Day._-Continue south into Cardigan Bay, and
trawl within the 20 fathom line south to New Quay or
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 147
Cardigan, staying for the night either in New Quay or
Fishguard Bays.
Third Day.—Trawl across St. George’s Channel from
off St. David’s Head to the Tuskar Rock and back, and
stay might in Fishguard Bay.
Fourth Day.—Trawl northwards towards Bardsey Island
in depths of 30 to 50 fathoms, and steam for night into
Menai Straits.
Any additional time this week afforded by good
weather can be spent in exploring northern parts of
Cardigan and Carnarvon Bays, or drift-netting for
herring at appropriate seasons. Stay week end in Straits.
Fourth Week.
(Lancashire and Cheshire Inshore Fishing Grounds).
First Day—Leave Menai Straits, and work from the
Great Orme’s Head eastwards in the shallow water, within
the 10 fathom line, to the mouth of the Dee. Take two
hauls of the fish-trawl between the Orme and the West
Hoyle Bank, and two hauls of the shrimp trawl between
the West Hoyle Bank and the Mersey. Stay night at
New Brighton.
Second Day.—Take out a fishing boat for the day from
New Brighton. Put a man on board her, and set her
to work with the shrimp trawl in the shallow channels
about Burbo Bank and Crosby Channel. Steamer to
go further out and take hauls of fish trawl in Liverpool
Bay within the ten-fathom line. Return to New
Brighton for night, picking up fishing boat and getting
results of day’s work.
Third Day.—Steam to Formby Point, and start trawl-
ing northwards to Blackpool. Pick up a fishing boat
for the day at New Brighton or Southport, put a man
on board, and set it working shrimp trawl in the shallow
148 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIBTY.
water. Steamer to work outside the banks up to and
including the Blackpool closed grounds, upon which one
haul of fish trawl and one haul of shrimp trawl should
be taken for comparison with hauls immediately before
upon ground lying immediately to the south, off the
Ribble. Pick up boat and get results, and then run to
Fleetwood for night.
Fourth Day.--Leave Fleetwood for Morecambe Bay
and Barrow Channel, taking a fishing boat in tow and
setting her to work in the shallow water with shrimp
trawl, while steamer uses fish trawl further out, as far
north as estuary of Duddon, but all inside the 6 or 7
fathom line. In evening pick up boat and return to
Fleetwood for week end, when general results of month’s
cruise would be seen to and put in order.
It would be well to send off certain collections when
in port at the end of each week to the central laboratory
in Liverpool.
The lines for trawling along each day in this scheme
have been laid down on the chart, in consultation with
Mr. Dawson, and along each line the same series of
observations should be taken.
The observations made should include : —
(1) Drags with the fish trawl and shrimp trawl.
(2) Plankton collections with surface and bottom
horizontal tow-nets, and also with quantitative
vertical nets. |
(5) Physical observations with thermometers, hydro-
meters, water-bottles, etc.
We may consider a few further details under each of
these headings :—
I. Fish and Shrimp Trawling Observations.—(a) Drags
should be made under strictly uniform conditions-—
that is, the same size, form and mesh of trawl net should
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 149
always be used, and the drags should be of uniform length
and duration, in order that they may be as strictly as
possible comparable with one another. In addition to the
fish trawl, it would be very useful at most stations if a
haul of the shrimp trawl could also be taken.
(b) Hvery drag should be recorded, irrespective of the
numbers of fish caught. A poor haul is just as important
for statistical purposes as a successful one.
(c) All the fish caught should be measured, and the
numbers of each ‘kind and size accurately recorded on a
form similar to the one appended.
(d) A number of individuals of each of the more im-
portant kinds of fish--such as plaice, sole, cod, haddock
—from every haul should be weighed and measured
separately. The ovaries should then be taken out and
weighed, and the results recorded on the form. Any-
- thing noteworthy in the condition or appearance of the
ovaries should be added. ‘The stomachs should be opened
and the contents noted.
(e) Mention should be made of any unusual fishes or
invertebrata taken in the trawl, and also of any special
abundance of common things such as star-fishes, crabs,
molluses, jellyfish, zoophytes, worms, or other fish food.
Unusual specimens, or anything not recognised, should
always be preserved for examination in the Liverpool
Laboratory.
II. “ Plankton” (or Tow-net) Collections.—Tow-net-
tings should be taken along with every drag of the fish
trawl. One haul with a bottom and one with a surface
net should be made on each occasion. Also one haul
of the vertical net for quantitative work should be made
at each station. These collections should be at once
preserved according to instructions, and sent to the Liverpool
Laboratory as soon as convenient after landing. Extra
150 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
tow-nettings should be taken as frequently as possible.
All such observations on the floating life of the sea
(which includes the eggs and the microscopic food of
many fishes) are most useful. Occasional hauls at par-
ticular seasons with a large mid-water net to ascertain
the presence of larvee and young fish would be most useful,
but might form a part of the additional exploration work.
IIT. Physical Observations.._(a) Sea Temperatures.—
Surface and bottom observations should be taken at the
beginning and end of each drag, and should be read to
01° C. Bottom temperatures should be taken with a
reversing thermometer. At certain stations in deep water,
periodically, serial temperatures at 0, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25,
30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 fathoms should be taken.
(b) Specific Gravity (density) of the Sea Water.--Sur-
face and bottom observations should be taken at the
beginning and end of each drag, and should be read to
the fourth place of decimals. Bottom observations
should be made on samples of the bottom water, taken
with a Mill’s bottle. The temperature and _ specific
gravity should be taken simultaneously in the same
sample of water. A sample (at least one litre) of the
sea water should also be kept and sealed up in a stoppered
bottle for examination of the salinity in the laboratory.
(c) Air Temperature—One observation at the begin-
ning of each drag should be taken for comparison with the
sea temperature.
(d) Barometric Pressure.—-One observation taken at the
beginning of each drag is sufficient.
(ec) Transparency and Colour of the Sea Water.—One
observation should be taken at the beginning of each drag,
and if any notable change has taken place in the water
a second observation should be made at the end.
(f) Currents.—Drift bottles and other weighted floats
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 151
should be set free to determine set of tides and other
currents.
(7g) Samples of the bottom deposits should be made and
preserved for examination in the laboratory.
(h) The state of wind, tide, sea, weather, etc., should
be recorded on the form supplied.
The above scheme apples only to the work on board
the steamer. The observations at present carried on by
the bailiffs in the in-shore waters should be continued,
and weekly tow-nettings should be taken in each division
of the district, and at the Piel and Port Erin Laboratories;
and the fullest possible statistics must also be obtained
from the commercial fishing boats. Notwithstanding the
very great importance of such commercial statistics 1m
connection with present or contemplated regulations, the
system of collection is imperfect in various respects, and
it is sometimes impossible to obtain reliable figures. The
remedy is to place the collection of statistics in the hands
of the local Sea-fisheries Committee who can obtain
information as to every man, boy and boat fishing in their
area.
The forms containing the results of the above observa-
tions should be posted to the Fisheries Laboratory, Uni-
versity College, Liverpool, with the least possible delay,
as it is important that early information should be ob-
tained of any unusual occurrence or any change in the
distribution of fish and plankton throughout the district.
A copy of the form upon which the observations should
be recorded was given in the report for 1900, at p. 30.
In addition to the regular statistical work planned for
16 days in each month, it is probable that the steamer in
most months will be able to devote a few days to the
work of exploring outside the stations laid down. Such
exploration will be most valuable, both from the purely
oy)
152 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
scientific and the industrial points of view. By such
work our knowledge of spawning grounds, “ nurseries,”
and the distribution of the fish in various stages will be
advanced, and, moreover, light may be thrown upon the
regular statistical observations.
Additional experimental work, such as the use of the
large mid-water net, the pumping of water from difterent
depths for plankton estimation, the experimental marking
and liberation of fishes, and observations on the vitality
of young fishes caught by different methods, might be
undertaken on the days left free at the ends of the weeks.
In addition to the captain and crew (say twelve in all)
necessary for working the vessel, and accustomed to the
use of the trawhng and other fishing gear, at least one
and possibly two scientific assistants, the one a biologist
and the other a chemist or physicist, should always be
on board. |
It is obvious that in carrying out this scheme, in addi_
tion to the work at sea, a considerable amount of work must
be done on shore. Probably the most satisfactory and
economical method of doing this would be to make use of
the existing laboratories at Liverpool, Piel, Port Hrin,
and, if Ireland joins the scheme, at Dublin, and to employ
the present staft with the additions that would be necessary.
The headings of the work in the laboratories would be
as follows :-—
(1) Tabulation and analysis of the records filled up on
the steamer, and those obtained from the
commercial fleet.
(2) Examination, estimation, and determination of the
plankton collected. |
(3) Examination of the fishes and invertebrates and
other material retained as the result of the
trawlings.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. Meare
(4) Hxamination (microscopic and chemical) of the
samples of sea bottoms.
(9) Physical and chemical work on the sea water.
Determination of the densities and salinities of the
water samples, and gas analyses of same.
(6) Co-relating results of the drift-bottle experiments.
(7) Preparation of charts, tables, and reports showing
the distribution of animals, and other results.
CONCLUSION.
The northern area of the Irish Sea, from Liverpool to
Holyhead and round the Isle of Man to Cumberland, has
probably been more thoroughly worked,
| (1) Topographically (as to bottom deposits, currents,
| etc.),
| (2) Zoologically (by the Liverpool Marine Biology
Committee), !
(3) As to its Fisheries (by the Lancashire Sea Fisheries
____Committee) and is consequently probably better
MM known in its details than any other area of similar
size in British Seas.
It has, moreover, on its borders the marine laboratories
mentioned above, with their staff of workers accustomed
to the work of the locality, and hence seems, both from
these circumstances and from its physical features, to
be marked out as an area in which, with comparatively
little new organisation, the proposed scheme of statistical
and observational fisheries investigations could be carried
out, in order to test :—
(1) How far it is possible to obtain an accurate statis-
tical knowledge of the populations of a sea area;
: and
(2) Whether such knowledge leads to conclusions of
importance in connection with the fishing industries.
154. TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Own SomE EXPERIMENTS witH “ Drirt BortrtEs.”’
By James JOHNSTONE.
Two series of experiments have already been made
from our Laboratory, with the object of determining the
direction taken by small objects floating at the surface,
in various parts of the Irish Sea. The results of these
have been published in former reports.* In both series the
portion of the Channel N. of Holyhead was mainly dealt
with, and the general result was to indicate an apparent
drift to the N. and N.E. on the E. side of the middle of the
Channel, and a N. to W. drift towards Ireland on the W.
side. The importance of the experiments was the probable
indication of the general drift of fish eggs from the ©
spawning grounds. It had been suspected, however, from
some observations made by the late R. L. Ascroft and
others on floating wreckage, that fish eggs spawned in the |
southern parts of the District might find their way into
the shallow waters off the Lancashire and Cheshire coasts,
and it became desirable to make some experiments to test
this supposition. Accordingly, Prof. Herdman, while going
out to Ceylon at the beginning of the year, set free some
200 bottles from the s.s. “ Derbyshire,” on his way down
the Channel on board that vessel. The bottles were of the
same size, and contained stamped and addressed postcards
of the same description, as those used in the two former
experiments. The experiment was very successful, aud
118 of the bottles were subsequently picked up, and the
postcards forwarded to the laboratory. |
The bottles were set adrift in lots of ten, and the data
obtained are given in the following Table :—
* Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Laboratory Reports for 1895 and 1898,
SEA-FISHERIES
LABORATORY.
27TH DercemBer, 1901.
|
Position and time when |
set free; age of tidal
stream.
Nos. 1—10.
MAW light ship, 1-30
a.m.
outgoing stream Lh.
30m.
Nos. 14—20.
Between N.W. light
ship and Little |
Orme Head, 2-0)
a.m. ;
outgoing stream 2h. |
5m. |
Nos. 21—30.
Off little Orme
Head 2-30 a.m. ;
outgoing stream 2h.
3gom.
Nos. 3i1—40.
Cieweutum Island
3-0 a.m.;
outgoing stream 3h.’
om.
Nos. 44-50.
Off Point Lynus 3-30
a.m. 5
outgoing stream 3h.
30m.
155
lace where found, and apparent time
taken for the j journey.
Biggar Bank, fue ile:
Do. do.
_W. shore, N. end Walney L. ;
Do. do. do.
Do. do. do.
W. side Walney L ;
Do. do.
Opposite Biggar, Walney L. ;
Hilpsford Pt., Walney LI. ;
| Askam-in-Furness ;
Haverigg, Cumberland ;
Walney L. ;
N. end Walney I. ;
Gutterby Pt. Cumberland -
_N. Seale, Walney ae
N. end; Walney I. ;
Do. do.
Walney I. ;
Duddon Sands, Cumberland ;
Bootle, Cumberland; 15 days
St. Bee: Se GO! 9 do.
Do. do. 6 do.
Bootle, do. 15 do.
Kirkby, N. Lanes.; 14 days
Haverigg beach ; 7 do.
W. side Walney I. ; 8 do.
Silecroft, Cumberland; 7 do.
Whitbeck,
_ River Duddon ;
do.
15
9 do.
do.
16 days
12 do.
156 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Position and time when |
set free; age of tidal | Place where found, and apparent time
taken for the journey.
stream.
| b
Nos. 54—60. | Gutterby Pt., Cumberland: 12 days
Off middle Mouse Duddon Sands; 7 doa
Island 4-0 a.m. ; Annaside, Cumberland ; 9 do.
outgoing stream 4h. | Do. do. 21 do.
5m. | Haverigg ; 7 do.
Nos. 61—70. Silecroft ; 7 days
E.N.E. of Skerries | Drigg, Cumberland; 10 do.
4-30 a.m. ; i= AD: do. 10 do.
outgoing stream 4h.; Do. do. 10 do.
30m. | PED a. do. 10 do.
| Bootle, do. 10 do.
Annaside ; 13 “de:
Nos. 71 — 80. Sellafield, Cumberland; 14 days
N. of Skerries 4-45 | Drigg; ; 9 do.
a.m. ; Bootle, Cumberland ; 10 do.
outgoing stream 4h.| Braystones, do. 13. do.
50m. Seascale, do. 10 do.
| Drigg ; 10 do.
| Seascale ; 10 do.
Nos. 8i1—90. _ Nethertown, Cumberland; 10 days
N.W.of Skerries 5-0 | Braystones; 10 days
att. Nethertown; 10 do.
outgoing stream 5h. | Drigg ; 9 do.
5m. Sellafield ; 14 do.
Braystones; 11 do,
Seascale ; 12 do
Nos. 91—100. Flimby, near Maryport; 10 days
W. of Skerries 5-15 | St. Bee’s Head ; 9 do
a.m ; | Garton, near Whitehaven; 10 do.
outgoing stream 5h. | St. Bee’s Head ; 10 do
20m.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY: 157
Position and time when
set free ; age of tidal
stream.
Nos. 101—110.
Off S. Stack 5-30
am, ;
slack water.
Nos. 141—120.
Holyhead I. bearing
E.N.E. 6-0 a.m. ;
slack water.
Nos. 121—130.
Off Carnarvon Bay
light ship 6-30
&.. ;
ingoing stream Oh.
5m.
Nos. 1381—140.
8 miles W.S.W. of
Carnarvon light
ship 7-0 a.m. ;
ingoing stream Oh.
30m.
Nos. 144—150.
13m. S.W. by W. of
Carnarvon light
ship 7-30 a.m. ;
ingoing stream lh.
5m.
Place where found, and apparent time
taken for the journey.
Parton, near Whitehaven; 8 days
Do. do. S| 0.
Workington, Cumberland; 8 do.
Parton ; 8 do.
Do. 8 do.
Whitehaven ; 8 do.
Do. 8 do.
Parton ; 9 days
Workington Bradt
Do. Sindo:
Parton ; 9 do.
Workington ; 2 do.
St. Bee’s Head; 10 do.
Elimby ; 9 do.
Do. 10 do.
Seascale (found Sept. Sth, 1902).
Drigg Sands ; 9 days
Seascale ; 9 do.
Parton ; 12 do.
St. Bee’s Head; 9 do.
Seascale ; 9 do.
Drigg Sands ; 9 do.
St. Bee’s Head; 12 do.
Seascale ; 9 do.
Bootle, Cumberland; 15 days
Ravenglas, do. 8 do.
Bootle, do. 118) (ley
Seascale ; 10 do.
Do. 10 do.
Do. 9 do.
Bootle, Cumberland ; 11 days
Ashton-with-Stodday, N. Lanes. ;
11 days
Bootle; 10 days
Doe lado:
Do. 9 do.
Done tide:
Do. 11 do.
158 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Position and time when
set free; age of tidal
stream.
Place where found, and apparent time
taken for the j journey.
|
LR ol Lead RO Oe
Nos. 154—160. ' Bootle ; 10 days
Bardsey I. bearing | Biggar, Walney I.; 10 do.
S.8S.H. 8-0 a.m. ; | Whitbeck ; 9 do.
ingoing stream lh. | Silverdale, Morecambe Bay; 25 do.
30m. | Do. (found Feb. 2nd, 1902).
Haverigg ; 9 days
Middleton Towers, Heysham,
| N. Lanes.; 29 do:
Nos. 164—170. | Cark Beck, Morecambe Bay; 25 days
Off igh) I. 8- ou Sandylands, Morecamhe ; 31 do.
a.m. N. end Walney L. ; 9 do.
ingoing stream 2h.) Heysham Harbour works ; 21 do.
5m. |
Nos. 171—180. Piel, Barrow-in-Furnegss
Cardigan Bay light | (found July 6th, 1902)
vessel bearing § Carnforth, N. Lanes. ; 14 days
S.8.E. 9-0a.m.; | Shrobshive rocks, Heysham; 12 do.
ingoing stream 2h. Middleton Towers, Heysham; 15 do.
30m. |
Nos. 181—190. | Porthdavarch, Holyhead ; 9 days
Off Cardigan Bay | South Shore sands, Blackpool; 10 do.
10-0 a.m. ; _ Bispham, near Blackpool ; 11 do;
ingoing stream 3h. Heysham Harbour works ; 26 do.
dor.
Nos. 191—200. | Lytham ;. 12 days
Off Cardigan Bay | St.-Anne’s-on-the-Sea ; 12 do.
10-30 a.m. | South Shore, Blackpool ; 12 do.
ingoing stream 4h. | Blackpool ; | 11 do.
dm.
Short descriptions only of the places where the
bottles came ashore are given. In all cases the precise
localities were given, and we are greatly indebted to the
finders for the evident care which was taken in filling up
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 159
the card, and in many cases volunteering further informa-
tion.
The general results of the experiment are indicated on
the sketch chart (fig. 2). The positions at which the
various lots of bottles were set adrift are indicated roughly
by the serial numbers in the lower portion, extending from
the N.W. light ship to Cardigan Bay. The destinations of
the bottles are given by the same numbers in the upper
portion of the chart, the bracket indicating the portion of
coast on which they were picked up. The line drawn from
Maughold Head to the opening of Morecombe Bay
indicates the place of junction or separation of the tidal
streams in the North and St. George’s Channel—the “ head
of the tide.” When the chart and tables are compared it
will be seen that :—
(1) 84% of the bottles picked up crossed this
imaginary line and drifted on to the Furness
and Cumberland coasts ;
(2) 11% of the bottles found entered Morecambe
Bay ;
(3) 5% were stranded on the Lancashire coast
between Blackpool and Lytham ;
(4) And only one bottle, set free on station 19,
failed to round Holyhead. This was found on
the Holyhead coast about 2 miles from the
place where the ‘‘ Primrose Hill’? was wrecked.
It is difficult to account for the varying destinations
of the bottles set free in these experiments. Many factors
determine their subsequent course, the chief of which are
_ the wind and the direction and force of the tidal streams
near the place where they were set free. In the absence
of wind there seems no doubt that the course of a floating
object might be predicted from a knowledge of the direction
of the stream and the state of the tide. In general, in the
160 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIGLOGICAL SOCIETY.
55°
Solway
Maryport
Mull of Galloway to,1ii24 | Werkington
Whitehaven
St.Bees Hd,
SE StONG
13,14, (5 INVA
eqs « =a ae. Duddon
caer
' laste a eras
9.204 Blackpool
eS rad
S\Yanglesey
uf
12 ia ha
> eee
Fic. 2.—West Coast of England and Wales, shewing the localities
of the drift bottles recovered.
_SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 161
fairway of the channel, a vessel will be carried about 9
miles by the stream during spring tides and about 6 miles
during neaps. Near the land the velocity of the stream
becomes much greater. The direction taken by the stream
_ is now pretty well known in almost every part of the Irish
Sea, and but for the varying influence of the wind, which
it seems quite impossible to estimate, we should be able to
trace the course of an object liberated at almost any place.
We have tried to estimate the effect of the wind, and are
much indebted to Mr. W. E. Plummer, of the Liverpool
Dock Board’s Observatory at Bidston for a complete series
of readings of the Bidston instruments for the time during
which most of the bottles were at sea.
It will be seen from the chart that there is a general
northerly trend in the destination of the earler lots of
bottles. Nos. 1, 2, and 3, which were set free between the
N.W. light ship and a point off Little Orme Head, have all
been found either on Walney Island or in the Duddon
Estuary. The direction of the streams about this point is
nearly easterly and westerly, and we should expect that in
the absence of wind the bottles would have oscillated back-
wards and forwards in this direction and finally gone
ashore in the Mersey or Dee at the next spring tides.
But the wind during the four days that these bottles were at
sea came from the H.$.H. and §.W. with an average force
of about 21 miles per hour, and it is this influence which
determines the direction taken by them. Lot No. 4, of
which four bottles were recovered, went as far north as St.
Bee’s Head. )
The remaining bottles picked up seem to have
behaved in a fairly regular way—-Nos. 5 to 12 have
gone successively further north. The number of bottles -
washed ashore on the portion of coast with Drigg as a
centre is very noticeable. Mr. J. Grice, to whom we are
162 ‘TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
indebted for much information, informs us that a strong
current sets in towards Drige and that ‘‘ coasters in the
know are always on the look out when anything goes down
off Holyhead.” The general direction and force of , the
wind remained much the same as before, but the bottles
were liberated nearer the fairway of the Channel, and from
No. 8 onwards they were subject to the influence of the
(nearly) mid-channel streams and this accounts for their
more northerly destination. From No. 12 onwards the
destination changed to the south; thus the bottles liberated
off Carnarvon Bay did not go so far N. as St. Bee’s Head:
those liberated off Bardsey Island (16 to 18) almost all went
into Morecambe Bey, and the last two lots, set adrift near
the southern lit of Cardigan Bay, got no further north
than Blackpool. ‘This is due, no doubt, to some extent,
to the greater distance the bottles had to traverse, but also
to the wind, which after the 10th January blew for a time
from the E.N.E. to N.W.
The influence of the wind on the general drift which
would follow from the direction of the tidal streams alone
is also seen in the case of six bottles set free in a former
experiment” by Mr. Scott. The data concerning these
are given in the sketch chart (fig. 3). The bottles
were set free about 10 miles west of Morecambe light ship
on the same day; their destinations, the direction of the
tidal streams and the general direction of the wind during
the period when the bottles were apparently at sea, are
marked on the chart. Under the influence of the tidal
streams alone the bottles would probably have gone ashore
near Blackpool or into Morecambe Bay, but the wind
during the early part of the period when the bottles were
adrift blew from the N., N.E., and N.W., and later on it
shifted from N.W. through W. to 8.W. The average
* Lancashire Sea Fisheries Laboratory Report for 1898, p. 30.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 168
_ velocity during the period, 19th May—24th May was about
_ 17 miles per hour, and during the whole period, 19th May—
- June 5th, about 15 miles per hour. The general influence
_ of the wind was therefore to drive the bottles in a southerly
direction, and this brought them within the influence of the
stream setting into the Mersey estuary. Two _ bottles,
however, seem to have remained longer at sea, and during
Ske PEK.
@
a
a“
=
t
“9
“ji
4
GY
ie
i9'g. * ate kr
Gt. Orme Hd.
NN.
Fic. 3.—Apparent direction taken by six drift bottles, shewing
directions of tidal streams and the general direction of the wind.
the later part of the period (June 5th—20th) the wind was
very variable and light, and these bottles were probably
carried up the coast towards Blackpool.
The results of this and former experiments seems to
show that the destination of fish eggs spawned on the
off-shore grounds either in the Lancashire or Welsh parts
164 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
of the district will depend as much on the direction and
force of the prevailing winds during the spawning period
as on the general direction of the tidal streams. And
since the prevailing winds during the early part of the year
ave from the W. and §.W., there will be a general drift to
the northern part of the district, and to a lesser extent
towards Liverpool Bay and the Ribble. The experiment
made by Prof. Herdman seems to prove what was indeed
conjectured by Mr. Ascroft, that the eggs from fish
spawning off Carnarvon and Cardigan Bays might find
their way into Lancashire waters. It might- have been
expected that many of these would go to the shallow
waters in the above Bays, but this experiment shows that
there is not sufficient in-draught into the bays from the
deep water where we may, not unreasonably, look for
spawning fishes, to produce this effect to any marked
extent The area, therefore, over which it is necessary
to trace the distribution of fish eggs and larve seems to
be widened, and the experiments indicate the need for
further investigations of the southern part of our extended
gea-fisheries district.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 165
REPORT ON THE TRAWLING STATISTICS COLLECTED BY THE
““Joun Frit” ann SEA-FISHERIES BAILIFFS.
By James JOHNSTONE.
These trawling observations have now been continued
for ten years, and it may be useful to indicate some con-
clusions of importance which may now be drawn from a
detailed study of the whole series. It has already been
pointed out that the great area of territorial waters which
the Fisheries steamer and the bailiff’s cutters have to
traverse in the course of their police duties renders it
impossible that any restricted fishing ground can be
trawled on as often as might be desired. This applies
more} particularly to the oft-shore fishing grounds, and it
is only in the case of two in-shore. grounds—the
Blackpool Closed Ground and the Mersey Shrimping
Grounds—that we possess fairly extensive series of obser-
vations. From the study of these it appears that some
general conclusions regarding the abundance of fish on
those areas during the last decade may now be made. It
ought to be pointed out, however, that the observations
referred to were not made with this precise object in view,
but were intended rather as surveys of the fishing grounds,
to supply evidence of the desirability of legislative restric-
tion of methods and times of fishing, and from this latter
point of view the series of observations made on the
Mersey Shrimping Grounds is all that can reasonably be
desired. But we will show, later on, that in order to
ascertain the changes in the abundance of the different
fishes frequenting the area from year to year, a more
extensive and a differently planned series of observations
than that we possess is necessary.
166 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
I. Discussion of the Statracee
We have taken advantage, however, of the ten years
series of observations to split up the whole period into two
quinquennial parts, and to compare the average catches
of immature fishes and shrimps during the first period
(1895-7), with those of the second (1898-1902). It is
hoped that by this treatment of the figures, irregularities
due to conditions referred to later, are smoothed out, and
that the data really represent the average condition of the
grounds during the two five-yearly periods. The greater
number of hauls have generally been made-during the
three mouths July, August and September, and as it is
during those months that fish are most numerous on the
grounds, they are the most convenient periods of the years
to compare. But to confirm the results, the 4th quarters
of the years, October-December, in the case of the
Blackpool grounds, and the 2nd quarters, April-June, are
also compared.
Blackpool Closed Grounds.
Average catches of immature fishes and shrimps made
with a shrimp trawl during the 3rd and 4th quarters of
the two quinquennial periods, 1893-7 and 1898-1902.
]
aoe f Soles, Plaice. Dabs. | Whiting. | Shrimps
, [eee
ee 7 | 26 | 1268 | 1982 259 2-5
Coe aodt 8 ar 231 1316 296 4
ween ae [age | son | 5840 us | 5
4th qr. |) 5 | ae | 727 | 1049 125 4
1898-1902 |
—S OS, lO ee =
——— ee
eae ee ee.
a Se!
ee
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 167
The table shows that there has been a marked increase
in the average of soles caught per haul during the period
1898-1902 over that caught during the earlier period 1893-
1897. This increase is very apparent when the 3rd
quarters of the years are compared, but it is also notice-
able, though not so marked, in the average catches for
the 4th quarters. The average catches of plaice and dabs,
on the other hand, have undergone decided decreases
during the same periods. Whiting and shrimps, as might
have been expected, show no decided changes.
The same changes are to be observed in the figures
dealing with the Mersey Shrimping Grounds, and here
they are quite as marked, and being founded on a larger
number of hauls than in the case of the Blackpool
erounds, are probably a closer approximation to the real
state of the fishery. The area considered is that known as
the Deposit ground, and part of the Burbo Bank. It
corresponds closely with the area which it was proposed
to close against shrimp trawling during a certain part of
the year.
Mersey Shrimping Grounds.
Average catches of shrimps and immature fishes made.
with a shrimp trawl during the 2nd and 5rd quarters of
the two quinquennial periods, 1893-7 and 1898-1902.
ee Soles. Plaice. Dabs. | Whiting. | Shrimps.
Hauls.
pee) 7 274 399 157 8
ee 49 17 274 :
es 9: 169 76 14
s98-t902{} 22 2 a
Bees | fiat 2 706 | 1136 15
1893-7 J 37 | 28 901 ( ) ) |
a 08 00 NRSC SC
es 549 | 1242 14
igo8-1902;, °° aoe ee
IY
168 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL B1OLOGICAL SOCIETY.
It will be seen that the figures given above indicate for
the Mersey grounds similar changes to those which have
taken place further north. The conclusions for the two
areas mutually confirm each other. Whatever part of the
year be considered, the same marked increase of soles and
decrease of plaice and dabs, and the same ambiguity of
results with regard to whiting and shrimps is to be
noticed. It would appear that we are really justified in
concluding that there has been a marked increase in the
number of young soles, and an equally marked decrease
in the number of young plaice and dabs present on the
Lancashire nursery grounds.
It is possible to regard the numbers of young fishes on
these nurseries as dependent on the numbers of the same
adult fishes on the off-shore grounds. That is, the more
soles (say) present on the off-shore grounds and spawning
there, the more young fishes will be found in the shallow
water grounds, also, other things being equal, the number
of adult soles on the off-shore grounds within the next
two years may depend on the number of young fish on the
nurseries. This is because the eggs and larve, resulting
from spawning fish outside, drift in towards these shallow
waters, and the young fishes settle there for a time. Then
as they grow they move outwards to replenish the off-
shore grounds. Perhaps it might be possible, if we
thoroughly understood the whole matter, and possessed
sufficient trawling observations, to forecast the approx-
imate abundance of fish on the off-shore grounds one or
two years ahead, from our knowledge of the abundance of
young fish on the nurseries. At any rate, such consider-
ations illustrate the importance of a thorough knowledge
of these in-shore water fisheries and their changes.
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 169
1 Gmthe Methods of Trawling
Oubis'e : yait To nis’.
Any attempt to study closely the changes taking place
in the fish population of an area by means of such a
series of observations as we refer to above, discovers so
many apparent irregularities that we are forced to con-
clude that only a very general conclusion can be drawn
from such data, and then only when averages founded on
considerable series are the values compared. It is very
probable, for instance, that the five-yearly averages we
have given above do indicate with some accuracy the
condition of the Blackpool and Mersey grounds, but it is
just as probable that any attempt to extract more than
this from the observations, say the variation from year to
year, is open to objection. If the averages of all the
catches made in each year were compared with each other,
errors would probably be made, for the abundance of fish
in any place varies enormously from month to month
during the year, and the hauls have not always been
spread regularly over the year but are more numerous In
the summer and spring of some years, and in the autumn
of others. In comparing years with each other we are,
therefore, compelled to compare only the catches made
during the corresponding seasons, and in doing so we
reduce considerably the number of hauls on which to cal-
culate averages. Results based on only one haul per
month or quarter are open to still greater objection than
those deduced from small averages.
The exact conditions affecting the number of fish caught
in a trawl net, employed for experimental purposes, are,
therefore, worth considerable study and we do not know
of any observations published* with this aim. The In-
* Except perhaps some observations made by McIntosh. See Report
of the Royal Commission on Trawling; ‘‘ On the effect of successive
hauls on the same area,”’ p. 374.
170 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
spectors of Fisheries have indeed made a_ laborious
analysist of the figures obtained by the trawling experi-
ments of the Scottish Fishery Board, but this consists only
of a statistical re-arrangement of the data; the actual
conditions which might have influenced the catches were
not studied, and it appears to us that one of the methods
employed—that of reducing the total catches to numbers
of fish caught per mile trawled over—is fallacious, and,
when the small values dealt with are considered, likely to
lead to error.
We have examined the results of the trawling obserya-
tions made by our Fisheries steamer and by the bailiffs
with the object of determining how far the eatch is
influenced by (1) the precise locality, (2) the tides, (3) the
form and dimensions of the trawl net, and the method of
using it. It is very generally believed by fishermen that
all these conditions affect the catch, but in trawling
observations it has been usual to consider large areas as
being uniformly stocked with fish, and to regard the
results of drags with trawl nets of the same length of
beam, and of the same mesh, and employed for the same
length of time, as comparable, and there seems little
doubt that this assumption is unwarranted.
(1) The Precise Locality.
The fact that the distribution of fishes varies within
close limits is brought out by many observations. On the
21st October of this year a series of hauls were made in
Luce Bay” by the “ John Fell.” The object of these hauls
was to obtain living mature plaice for the Piel Ilatchery,
and a series of short hauls, rather than one or two long
ones were made. Each haul lasted for about an hour and
a quarter, and about 2} miles were fished over. The net
+ 16th Annual Report of the Inspectors of Fisheries for Mngland and
Wales, 1902.
** By permission of the Fishery Board for Scotland,
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. it
employed was a trawl with a 30-feet beam and with 7-inch
meshes throughout. ‘Trawling was continued all day
from 7 a.m. to 5-30 p.m., and the meteorological conditions
throughout were fairly constant. There was a fresh
breeze from N.W. during the whole day. The sea was
nearly smooth and the weather was fine. The barometer
varied from 30°7 to 30'5, the air temperature from 9°C.
to 11°6°C., and the surface temperature of the sea from
112°C. to 11°6°C. The results of the hauls are given in
the following Table.
Results of 6 Hauls in Luce Bay on October 21st, 1902.
{
Te ke IIOE, 1 | Vv. Wi
7-Oa.m.to) 9-0 a.m. | 10-302.m.}12noon to 1-45 p.m. | 3-30 p.m.
8-15 a.m. to to 1-15 p.m. | to3 p.m. | to 5-30
ys. jog brs. Ebb) 10-15 a.m. |11-45 a.m 43 hrs. | 4 hr. Ebb |p.m. 2 hrs.
oP to 2 Flood.| 14 hrs. 3hrs. {Flood to 5?) to 15 hrs. Ebb
the catch. | D'2eging |Flood to 23/Flood to 43{hrs. Flood.| Ebb. | to 4 hrs.
partly | hrs. Ebb. jhrs. Flood.| Dragging | Dragging Ebb.
against | Dragging | Dragging | with the | with the | Drageing
| and with | with the | with the | stream. | stream. | with the
thestream.| stream. | stream. | Sienecian.
Plaice s..:..<.. 14 157 17 1367, | 2.1193 347
PANGS 22 seater 20 67 8 10 14 44
Puro. ss. — 1 -- a a |
BOIGS: sits... — -— —- 1 | 1 1
Lemon Sole.. — — —~ es 265 1
Bkates......++. — 1 1 i | = sl
RAYS (civ cosh 27 16 38 | 20 11
| eee = ee
Totals ......... 61 249 25 SEs le 58 404
The area trawled over is shown in the accompanying
sketch chart, where the positions, directions and lengths
of the six hauls are marked. It will be seen that they are
restricted to a narrow strip round the west and north sides
of the bay. The depth was very uniform, 4 to 6 fathoms,
and the bottom everywhere consisted of sand. The area
was, in fact, a limited one, where the physical conditions
172 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
were everywhere constant, and where, if those conditions
determined the distribution of the fish, one would have
expected a similarity of result in the hauls made. These,
however, show the most remarkable differences. Haul 6
may be left out of consideration as 1t was longer than
Nos. 1 to 5, but in those five hauls the number of plaice
caught varies from 14 to 157, of dabs from 8 to 67, and of
ray from 0 to 38. The only variable condition is the
state of the tide, and there are no apparent regularities
Port William
Mul) of
Galloway es
Fic. 4.—Luce Bay, shewing the positions, approximate directions
and lengths of the drags.
to be seen by comparing the catch with this condition.
There is no doubt, of course, that the state of the tide did
affect the number of fish caught, but the variation in the
catches due to this cause is apparently disturbed by
variations due to the irregular distribution of the fish on
the bottom.
The same results are given by hauls made by a shrimp
trawl on the Mersey grounds. The following table gives
the result of four hauls made by the same boat during the
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 173
same day on a very limited area—the deposit ground.
The hauls were made immediately after each other, and
the length of ground trawled over varies shghtly, but in
an insufficient degree to account for the difference in the
catches.
Four hauls made on the Mersey Deposit ground
on February 16th, 1894.
|
|
IL; Tk. | Al: EVE
+ hr. ebb ; 3 hrs. ebb; | 42 hrs. ebb; | Low water ;
2 miles long. | 1# miles long.) 2 miles long. | 14 miles long.
oo ie We tae Bee SG
GIES. Secures. 6 14 0 0
Plgice ........ 221 50: 02 | 44 284
Dabs... 120 Bee al we 33
Whiting ...... 101 ign | 34 0
Shrimps (in
quarts) ... 7 44 | 2 24
Hauls made on the same day, by the same vessel and
net, for the same time and over the same length on the
Blackpool closed grounds, have given equally dissimilar
results.
Two hauls on the Blackpool closed ground on
January 13th, 1902.
| I. | TE.
| High water ; 2 hours ebb ;
14 miles; 1 hour. 14 miles; 1 hour.
BEEP MUMAITE Eaters coc coaessree 15 quarts. 4 quarts.
RG CM Pea asoscisceceneeckes | 340 | 394
Bees ce agcecsacea ssp sce! 10,900 24,300
“chi Ve | 400 | 540
COAT icicccaicesas onc secanedes | 100 270
PMS G eiacdas cis ccsecacees ess | 156 90
| |
These instances illustrate the contention that hauls
made on the same limited area and on the same day under
174 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
conditions as nearly as possible alike do not necessarily
give similar results. This applies with particular force
to hauls made with small apparatus and for a short time.
As might be expected, hauls made on the same area with
large nets and extending over a considerable distance give
results which are much more similar than in the cases
given above. Three hauls witnessed by Dr. Fulton*
illustrate this. They were made by a commercial trawler
working in the Moray Firth on September 3rd, 1900, and
using an otter trawl with a head line measuring 120 feet.
The results were, for the more important fishes :—
iE. i ik,
1-45 a.m. 7-40 a.m. 1-20 p.m.
to to to
6-45 a.m. 12-40 p.m. 6-30 p.m.
GO onastaataesacs ok ve se 49 o4 (a:
DAAC. fovescsscdesss 1640 2407 2202
SU COTIUT 1 oaeee oH eee : 92 52 291
Wah@ eS 55 sass. does 119 92 7
Long rough Dabs... 68 35 | 49
Sail-Flukes ......... 12 8 3
Here the catches are more sunilar, though in the case of
some of the fishes there is a considerable difterence
between the numbers caught. But it is obvious that a
longer haul and with a larger net, must, by merely
covering a greater area, tend to eliminate lesser
inequalities of distribution.
(2) The Lffect of The State of Tade.
This is difficult to study since a suitable experiment
would necessitate trawling over the same line at least
half-a-dozen times a day for a fortnight, and during that
time considerable changes in the density of the fish might
occur. But such an experiment repeated several times
* 19th Rep. Scottish Fish. Board, 1901, p. 67.
i i ee a )
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 175
would, no doubt, give much information. In the absence
of data of such a kind we have made a study of the
statistics collected on the Mersey grounds by Captain
Kecles, during the last ten years. It has been stated that
these observations had an entirely different aim, and they
are, therefore, not always suitable for the elucidation of |
our point. They do give some results, however, which
are all the more reliable since they are in general agree-
ment with Captain Hecles’ personal experience of the
grounds. It is first to be noted that there is a very
distinct difference between catches made during spring
tides and those made during neaps. All the catches made
during the months of July, August, and September, with
tides of from 17 to 20 feet, have been collected and their
average compared with that of those made during the same
months with tides of from 11 to 14 feet. The results
are given below.
Average catches of shrimps and immature fishes on the
Deposit grounds during August-September, 1893-1902.
No. of | Soles. | Plaice. | Dabs. |Whiting.) Shrimps
f ger (Quarts).
SPRINGS ...... 8 48 588 840 1385 | 17 eae
NEAPS ...... Me 22 343 608 | 2310 16} oe.
SPRINGS......) 13 100) | 258 ses gel e
NEAPS ...... 10 594 | 34870 568°)! 1670 | tay Us
SPRINGS ...... 10 81 789 655 3460) ayia”
NEAPS...... | 6 D1 dol P99 965 utsOl Witt jhe ary
There is little doubt that more soles and plaice are
caught during spring than at neap tides. The same is the
case with dabs for two of the months considered, while
whiting seem to have been more abundant during neaps
than during springs, but the distribution of this fish is in.
other respects very capricious, and too much stress must
176 ‘TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
not be laid on the above figures. Shrimps do not seem
to be so much affected. Captain Eccles informs us,
however, that in his experience more shrimps are gener-
ally caught at springs than at neaps, on account of the
greater muddiness of the water during the higher tides.
As regards the influence of the state of the tide as to
ebb and flow on the numbers of fish caught, much remains
to be made out. We have collected the hauls made during
every hour of the tide for the months July, August, Sep-
tember, and calculated the average catches. The data
are rather incomplete, too few hauls having been made
just before high water to give satisfactory averages. ‘I'he
results are set out in the table and on the accompanying
chart where the abscissze represent part of one daily tidal
cycle and the ordinates the average numbers of fishes
caught.
Average catches of fish and shrimps made with a
shrimp trawl on the Mersey grounds during
July, August, September of the years 1893-
1902. Arranged for each hour of the tide.
State of No. of
Tide. eae | Soles. | Plaice. Dabs. | Whiting.| Shrimps
5 pe anne ©
(Quarts).
H.W. to one ae
hour ebb ... 4 140°7 848 491 2168 20
i to 2 hours ;
ebb at acseee 10 57 167 412 1165 11
2 to 3 hours
Ebban sake (oes 14 46 | 339 650 1755 16
3 to 4 hours
1 Yc REO ee eke 10 SOV Sita ees | 776 1590 14
4 to 5 hours | |
GDDicnsssceeees 13 Jo ¥ >} 307 | #530 991 15
5 hours ebb to |
BW si 2escaerce 2 2988 | 130 | 1688 1527 29
Li. Wey (ho) 1 |
hour flood... 10 AGL ee 645 1102 19
1 to 2 hours |
Hood ‘cet sas i 82 445 | 491 677 14
2 to 3 hours |
3 102 679 844. 9474. 9
TlOOd: +. Savas
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 177
Whiting are again seen to vary im an _ irregular
manner but it seems certain that more soles and dabs are
got about low water, and that more plaice are got about
high water. Captain Eccles informs us that this is his
experience as regards soles, dabs and whiting, and that
Nos.
2400 °F July—Sept, 1893-1902.
Lo Average Catches
tee, at each hour of the tide.
9200 Mersey Shrimp Grounds,
Whiting
2000
1800
11600
1400
‘11200
| 1000
800 Babs
Plaice
600
Fig. 5.—Average catches of immature fishes in relation to the state of
the tide.
often plaice behave as the curve shows but not invariably
so. It is evident that a large number of carefully devised
observations are required to make out these variations in
a satisfactory manner, and it also appears probable tbat
178 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
be found in
different places. ‘There is no doubt that this cause has
the same variations will not necessarily
some effect in producing the marked differences in the
catches from the same area on the same day, but it alone
is not enough to account for all.
(3) Form, ete., of the Net and the Method of Use.
It is obvious that with small nets, sweeping a small area
and catching few fish, the exact form and dimensions of
the apparatus must remain coustant so that similar
samples will always be taken. But nets are frequently
lost or get damaged, and on every such occasion the exact
trim of the apparatus may alter and its catching power
may change. The trawl net used for scientific observa-
tions is really a physical instrument, but it has apparently
never been regarded in this way, and the “ constants ” for
any particular apparatus determined. We do not know
of any expermnents, except those of Mr. Dawson on the
catching power of the net in relation to the size of the
mesh, on the differences in catching power that alterations
in the length of the net, the beam, the foot rope, ete., will
make, although it is quite evident that for the purposes of
scientific trawling these should be known. Fishermen
know that apparently slight differences in the trim of the
net, the length and weight of the foot rope, or the amount
of “grip” given to the latter, for instance, may make
differences in the catching power of the net. So also the
exact method of using it. ‘Two fishermen using the same
vessel and net and on a ground on which fish may be
reasonably supposed to be uniformly distributed will not
necessarily get the same catches. It follows that in the
collection of any considerable series of observations from
which detailed conclusions are to be drawn, these con-
siderations must be borne in mind, as it must often
happen that the observations are made by different people
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 179
and with constantly changing nets. In a reliable series
of observations the length and duration of the drags
would be always the same. ‘lo compare drags of varying
lengths after correcting them for the length of the haul,
as is done by the Inspectors of Fisheries in the paper
already referred to, appears to us to be fallacious. For
the amount of fish caught by a trawl net is apparently not
proportional to the distance trawled over. Thatis, during a
d-hours drag over a uniform eround one third of the catch
will not be made during the last hour, for as the net
becomes filled with fish and other material its catching
power diminishes. This is because the weight of material
in the cod end may, with a certain construction of net,
tend to cause the irons and foot rope to bear less heavily
on the ground, perhaps to become lifted altogether. And
the more full the net becomes the less water will pass
through its meshes, and some kinds of fish entering the
mouth will have much better chances of escaping.
In an ideal series of trawling observations the figures
obtained would represent the varying density of fish on
the bottom on the areas considered, and would represent
this only. But we have seen that the catch made may
be influenced by many causes such as the daily and fort-
nightly state of the tide, and the constants of the ap-
paratus employed, and these may vary quite independently
of any variation in the density of the fish. To correct the
observations for these varying conditions, such as would
be done in a quantitative physical experiment, is, in the
present state of our knowledge of the matter, quite im-
possible. And the distribution of the fishes on the bottom
is probably much more variable than is generally sup-
posed, so that to obtain results which would apply to even
a moderately large area, 100 square miles, for instance,
would necessitate a number of hauls bemg made, Jt has
180 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAT. SOCIETY.
been generally supposed that on an area where the physi-
cal conditions, depth of water, and nature of bottom, are
similar, the distribution of fish is pretty uniform. The
distribution of fishes will depend primarily on the distri-
bution of their food, and how variable this may be will
be seen by taking any area of cockle-bearing sands, ten
miles by ten miles, and observing how irregularly cockle
beds may be distributed over this area, though the
physical conditions are closely similar in every part.
It will appear, then, that to obtain results which will
give more than merely general conclusions, such as we
have given with regard to the Blackpool and Mersey
grounds, must require very frequent trawling observations
and the employment of averages based on rather large
series of figures. By considering averages only and cal-
culating these from many data, some of the possible errors
which we have indicated above as inseparable from
isolated observations, might be ehminated.
Such considerations as we have dealt with above appear,
then, to indicate that if a series of trawling observations
is to be undertaken with the view of determining the
changes in time in the fish population of a fishing ground,
these things must be borne in mind: —
(1) The nets employed must be chosen and used so that
their fishing power will be equal—unless one net is
employed throughout the series of observations.
(2) Due regard must be paid to the differences which
the varying states of the tide must make in the catches,
or the observations must be made under the same
conditions of tide.
(3) Finally, the results should be based on the averages
of several observations taken at neighbouring places so
that the differences due to irregular distribution in space
may be as far as possible eliminated.
|
"
J
SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 181
TABLE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PrErAGIC Fisn Eaas.
By HeInckE and EHRENBAUM.
(Translated by J. Johnstone.)
The following Table is translated from that given by
Heineke and Ehrenbaum in the Kiel Kommission Report*
for 1900. It refers to the species found in the German
part of the North Sea, but will most probably apply to
many of those inhabiting the Irish Sea as well. *
In some cases the determination of the species is
uncertain. ‘These are indicated in the table (ae., “ Trigla
sp.,” where no attempt is made to distinguish the various
species). .
The eggs of the species marked with an asterisk are
as yet imperfectly known. The Roman numerals indicate
the months during which the fishes spawn. The authors
claim that the table is useful chiefly as the means of a first
determination of the eggs, and more detailed information
as to special characters is given in the systematic part of
their paper.
**«* Die Bestimmung der schwimmenden Fischeir und die Methodik
der Kimessungen. Wiss. Meeresuntersuch. N. F. Bd. 3. Abth.
_Helgoland, Heft 2, p. 294, 1900.
+ Certain other species, of economic importance in our district,
are not included in this Table. These are :—Labrax lwpus (Bass),
Merluccius vulgaris (Hake), Molva vulgaris (Ling), Lepidorhombus
megastoma (Megrim), Mugil chelo (Lesser grey mullet), and Hippo-
glossus vulgaris (the Halibut). The main characters of the eggs of
some of these species are known but others still require investigation.
TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
182
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269
NOTES ON THE CLASSIFICATION
AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE
CEPHALOCHORDA.
By Watrer M. Tatrersatz, B.Sc.,
Scholar in Zoology of Victoria University and of University College,
Inwverpool.
[Read January 9th, 1903. ]
The following notes are the first results of an examina-
tion of the collection of Lancelets made by Professor
Herdman during his recent visit to Ceylon, a collection
which he was kind enough to place in my hands for
examination and description. The detailed results of
that examination will appear in Professor Herdman’s
Report on the expedition, and it will suffice now if I
mention that the collection was a very rich and extensive
one, consisting of 100 specimens belonging to no fewer
than seven different species. Opportunity was thus afforded
to study a series of specimens of several species as yet
but little known, especially Branchiostoma belcherr, which
has hitherto been found very sparingly.
As the examination of Professor Herdman’s collection
proceeded certain inconsistencies became apparent in the
diagnoses of the various species of the group. It is these
inconsistencies that I wish to discuss now, adding in
addition a few notes on the geographical distribution.
The history of the speciography and classification of the
Cephalochorda has been detailed several times, but I
think that for the sake of clearness and completeness it
will be well to repeat it once more,
Y
270 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCTETY.
Amphioxus! was first discovered off the coast of Corn-
wall in 1774, by Pallas, who, though recognising its
fish-like characters, described it as a molluse under the
name Limaz lanceolatus. Sixty years later, 1834, it was
re-discovered by Costa in the Mediterranean near Naples,
since so famous as the home of Amphioxus. Costa
thought he had found a new animal and named it
Branchiostoma lubricum, taking the generic name from the
oral cirri which he mistook for gills. Two years later
Yarrell? found it again in the Mediterranean and not
knowing of Costa’s work, but being acquainted with
Pallas’ description, he re-named it Amphiowus lanceolatus,
retaining Pallas’ specific name but changing that of the
genus, since Limax was already used for a genus of
molluses. Aceording to the rules of nomenclature,
Costa’s generic name must take precedence. Hence,
although popularly known as Amphziovus, the correct
generic name should be Branchiostoma. Gray recognised
this in 18473 when he described a new species from
Borneo as Branchiostoma belcherr. His deseription of
this new species is most vague and unsatisfactory; the
reasons for separating it from 7. /anceolatum are not at all
clear, and, in fact, the author does not seem to be at all
certain that it is a new species. In 1851+ Gray compared
this new species with specimens from Cornwall and the
Mediterranean and concluded that all three were distinct
species. The Mediterranean form he called 2. lubricum,
that from Cornwall B. lanceolatum, and his new one from
Borneo B. belchert. In 1852 Sundevall® added a new
species from Peru under the name B. elongatum and at
'T use ‘*‘ Amphioxus ’’ as a colloquial term for all members of the group.
2 British Fishes.’’ 1836. SP.Z2.8. L647.
‘Cat. Brit. Mus. Fish. Vol. vii. 1851.
*Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Férhn. Vol. ix. 18652.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. Didi:
the same time recorded B. lanceolatum from the German
Ocean; and in the next year’ he introduced the system
of enumeration of the myotomes as a means of dis-
tinguishing the species of the group, and on this new
character he diagnosed the 4 species already known, as
follows, using three numbers to indicate (1) the myotomes
in front of the atriopore, (2) those between atriopore
and anus, and (5) those behind the anus: —
B. lanceolatum, with the myo. form., 36, 14, 11.
B. elongatum, with the myo. form., 49, 18, 12.
B. belcheri (formula not then known).
B. caribbeum (a new form he describes from Rio
Janeiro), 37, 14, 9.
The difference between the myotome formule of B.
lanceolatum and B. caribbeum appears very slight indeed
from Sundevall’s figures, and it leads us to think that
he either regarded the formula as perfectly constant or
that he had few specimens to work with, as the examin-
ation of a large number of specimens of each species would
have convinced him of the great variation that exists
within the limits of a single species. These forms were
not at once regarded as specifically distinct, for Giinther
in 1870? classed them all as B. lanceolatum.
In 1876 Peters? formed a new genus for specimens from
Torres Strait, Australia, which he called E’pigonichthys
cultellus, basing his genus on (1) the supposed median
position of the vent, and (2) the shape of the fins. The
fins, however, are such delicate structures, and, moreover,
vary so within the limits of a single species that their
value in determining genera is very slight indeed. Only
in the best preserved material would they retain their
Thbid. Vol x, 1853.
2Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. 1870. Vol. vii.
3 Monat. K, Preuss. Akad. 1876,
272 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
exact outline, and to make their shape a generic character
appears to be most unsatisfactory. Giinther, in 1884,'
re-examined this species and found that the vent was
not median, but, as in all other then known species, was
distinctly on the left side; he therefore very rightly
referred the species back to the genus Branchiostoma.
Although, as we shall see later, Peters’ form was a type
of a new genus, which has since been recognised, it was
certainly not distinct generically on Peters’ characters
stated above. In the same paper Giinther summarises
the species of Branchiostomide and adopts Sundevall’s
method of enumerating the myotomes in the determin-
ation of species. Thus he now recognises as five distinct
species what he, in 1870, regarded as forming one. He
also added a new species, B. bassanum, for a Lancelet
from Bass Strait, Australia. His six species (1884) are —
B. elongatum - - - 49, 18, 12
AA Voe 18)
B. bassanum - - - + 43, 15, 17}
AD, JAsee
B. belcheri - - . - 3. ae
B. caribheum - - - 9871, 14,9
34, 18, 18]
B. lanceolatum - - =} ro, 12-
36, 14, 11]
B. cultellum - cil a (f= - 982,10, 10
This summary was, however, not quite complete, as
it did not include 7. californiense, a species formed by
J. G. Cooper in 1868,? for a form found in San Diego Bay,
California. Finally, Giinther? added a new species in
1 Report. Zool. Collect. H.M.S. ‘‘ Alert.’ 1884.
2Nat. Wealth Califor., Cronise. 1868.
8 Challenger Reports. Vol. xxxi. 1889.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. 278
1889, B. pelagicwm, for a surface form taken in mid-ocean
during the ‘‘ Challenger ” expedition.
This brings us to 1893 when Andrews! described a new
genus from the Bahamas which he called Asymmetron
lucayanum. His minute and masterly investigation of
this form disclosed two new and important characters,
viz., a single row of gonads and the asymmetrical
character of the metapleural folds, the left stopping at
the anus, while the right was continuous behind with the
ventral median fin.
These characters are at the same time very constant
and very easily made out. Moreover, Andrews founded
his new genus on them alone. The other points in which
it differed from known forms, he regarded as merely
specific differences. His new genus was, therefore,
soundly based on important and constant characters.
Willey” in the same year, during an examination of a
collection of PB. cultellum from Torres Straits, Australia,
noticed in this species the uniserial gonads, but did
not agree with Andrews in regarding them as
forming a generic distinction, and so retained the
species in the old genus Branchiostoma. He apparently
did not notice the asymmetrical metapleural folds, or, in
all probability, he would have regarded the form as
generically distinct. In 1894 Miss Kirkaldy revised the
whole of the group, and her preliminary report was read
to the British Association in that year,? the final paper
appearing next year 1895.4 Her classification was as
follows : —
1$tud. Biol. Lab. Johns Hopk. Univ. Vol. v., pt. 4. 1893.
2Quart. J. Micr. Sci. Vol. xxxv.
’ Brit. Assoc. Report. Oxford. 1894.
4Quart. J. Micr. Sci. Vol. xxxvii.
274. TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
BRANCHIOSTOMID%.
GeNus I. Branchiostoma.
SuB-GENus I. Amphioxus.
A. lanceolatus.
A. belcherv.
. A. californiense.
A. cartbbeus.
Sus-GeNvs II. Heteropleuron.
H. cultellum.
H. bassanum.
H. cingalense.
Genus II. Asymmetron.
A. lucayanum.
Incerta Sepis. B. elongatum.
B. pelagicum.
She examined the species as to the state of their gonads
and metapleura, and agreed with Willey in retaining
such forms as H. cultellum and H. bassanum (both of
which have uniserial gonads and asymmetrical meta-
pleura, important, and according to Andrews, diagnostic
characters of the genus Asymmetron) in the genus
Branchiostoma, creating a new sub-genus Heteropleuron
for their reception as Willey had suggested. The two
forms JB. elongatum and B. pelagicum she did not examine,
and regarded their position as doubtful, till further
specimens were examined. She also described a new
species from Ceylon, HZ. cingalense, with a myotome
formula of 39, 16, 8.
In the same year Gill! published a classification of the
Cephalochorda, arrived at quite independently of that
referred to above. He offered no comment on Kirkaldy’s
paper which reached him just as his was going to press.
His classification was as follows : —
1American Naturalist. Vol. xxix. 1895.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. ATS
Brancutosromip®, divided into five genera—
(1) Branchiostoma—bilateral gonads, rayed ventral
fin, low dorsal fin, and expanded caudal membrane.
B. lanceolatum, B. belcheri, B. cartbbeum, B.
californiense, B. elongatum.
(2) Paramphiovus!—unilateral gonads, rayed ventral
fin, low dorsal fin, expanded caudal membrane.
P. bassanum.
(3) Hprgonichthys— unilateral gonads, reduced ventral
fin, high dorsal fin and expanded caudal membrane.
E. cultellus.
(4) Asymmetron—uunilateral gonads, no ventral fin, low
dorsal fin and extended attenuated tail. A.
lucayanum.
(5) Amphiowdes (a new generic name which he pro-
poses tor 5b. pelagicum)—bilateral (?) gonads, no
ventral fin (? ), low dorsal fin, expanded caudal
membrane, no oral cirri. A. pelagicum.
In 1897 Willey? described a new species of the genus
Asymmetron under the name A. caudatum the myotome
formula of which was 40 (44) 9, 11; and in 1901? he
described a further species Dolichorhynchus indicus which
he placed in a new sub-genus of Branchiostoma, founded
on the fact that the preoral lobe of this new species was
very well developed. At the end of his paper he added
an outlined classification of the group, which differed
somewhat from that of Kirkaldy. The full classification
was as follows :—
BRANCHIOSTOMIDZ—
Genus I. Branchiostoma.
Sus-Genus 1. Amphioxus, e.g., A. lanceolatus.
Sus-cenvs II. Dolichorhynchus, e.g., D. indicus.
1 Paramphioxus is a generic name proposed in 1893 by Haeckel for
B. bassanum.
BOQ dM.) VOl, XXXIx, Stipa: Viol: xiv.
276 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Genus II. Heteropleuron.
Sus-Genus I. Paramphiocus, e.g., P. bassanum.
Sus-GENUS II. Epigonichthys, e.g., E. eultellus.
Sus-GENvs III. Asymmetron, e.g., A. lucayanwn.
A criticism of this, as well as the other classifications,
will be given later. In the same journal Benham also
described a new species of Acraniate, Heteropleuron
hectori, from New Zealand which had been laid by in a
museum for twenty years labelled A. /aneeolatus. Its
myotome formula is 53, 19 (20), 12. In the same year,
1901, Jordan and Snyder! made a new species B. naka-
gawe for a Japanese lancelet. In 1902 F. Cooper
described a new species of Heteropleuron, H. maldivense,
from the Maldive and Laccadive Islands. It resembled
H. bassanum in its myotome formula and H. cultellum
in general shape. Its formula was 45, 16, 12. In 1902
also, a new species, B. capense was recorded from South
Africa by Gilchrist,? with the formula 47, 19, 9.
Such is the history of all the known species of the
group. We shall now consider the various classifications.
Taking Guill’s first we can dismiss it in a few words.
The differences between his different genera do not
appear to me to be of equal value for while Branchiostoma
differs from Paramphioaus in the character of such im-
portant and constant organs as the gonads, Paramphioxus
differs from EH pigonichthys only in such variable and
unsatisfactory points as the shapes of the fins. Moreover,
his diagnosis of the genus Amphzowides is neither definite
nor accurate, for Giinther distinctly states that B. pela-
gium has a ventral fin but no fin rays. While
Branchiostoma and Amphioaides are certainly distinct ©
from the other three genera, they cannot be considered
1Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum. Vol. xxiii., No. 1233.
2Marine Investig. S. Africa. Vol. ii., No. 7. 1902.
i
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. OG
as themselves generically distinct, for the only difference
between the two, namely the presence of oral cirri in
Branchiostoma and their absence in Amphiowides,' is not
enough to justify a generic separation, and, therefore, I
agree with Gtinther in retaining this species in the genus
Branchiostoma.
Similarly the three genera of Guill, Paramphiozus,
Lipigonichthys and Asymmetron, while distinct as a group
from the other two genera, can hardly be considered as
generically distinct from one another. The differences
between them are solely the character and shape of the
fins.
If we consider Kirkaldy’s classification it is at once
obvious that the sub-genus Heteropleuron is more nearly
related to the genus Asymmetron than to the genus
Branchiostoma in having uniserial gonads and asym-
metrical metapleura, the two chief characters of Asym-
metron. In defining the characters of his new genus,
Andrews regarded the above two characters only as being
generic; the other points in which the new form differs
from other then known forms he considered as only of
specific value. Kirkaldy on the other hand regards these
latter characters as of generic value and considers
Andrew’s generic characters of only sub-generic rank.
Willey returns to Andrew’s view and in his classification
‘places both Asymmetron and Heteropleuron under one
genus defined by the above two characters. The
differences between the two he considers to be of sub-
generic value. His classification, however, takes no
cognisance of Kirkaldy’s new species Heteropleuron
congalense, and he neither proposes a new sub-generic
name nor indicates where he would place the species.
1See later for reasons suggesting that the absence of oral cirri in
B. pelagicum is the result of pelagic life.
278 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
It seems to me to be quite superfluous to form a new sub-
genus for this species, A. cingalense, although it does not
seem to fall exactly into any of Willey’s sub-genera.
In choosing generic characters it is well to look for those
which are at once very constant and easily made out.
Among the most constant of organs in any animal are
the gonads, and in the Cephalochorda they are most con-
spicuous when present. Their arrangement, therefore,
is a good character on which to classify the group. The
metapleural folds are also very constant, and these
together form the two fundamental, most important and
most constant characters. They show two series, (1)
biserial gonads and symmetrical metapleura, 2.e., the
metapleura of both sides ending just behind the anus,
and (2) uniserial gonads and asymmetrical metapleura,
2.e., the left metapleuron dying away just behind the
anus, while the right is continuous behind with the
ventral median fin. This gives us two genera. Other
characters such as the shape of the fins, and the number
and arrangement of the myotomes vary so much as to
be only of use in determining species, and then only
when taken in conjunction with other characters. I,
therefore, agree with Willey in dividing the group into
two genera only. ‘The first series above gives us the
genus Branchiostoma, and the second series the genus
Asymmetron.
As I propose that gsub-genera should be abolished
altogether, the name Asymmetron should be applied to
the second series in preference to Willey’s Heteropleuron,
because of priority. Thus we have the group primarily
divided into the two genera Branchiostoma and
Asymmetron.
Willey recognised five sub-genera. Three of these,
Dolichorhynchus, Paramphioxus and E pigonichthys have
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. 279
only one species each, while a fourth, Asymmetron, has
two, one of which Willey! subsequently regarded as
merely a variety of the other. This gives us four out of
five sub-genera which are monotypic. Sub-genera at
‘most are merely groupings of species, and when each sub-
genus has but one species, their reality and convenience
may well be doubted. Moreover, their use indicates a
less close relation between the species than really exists.
For these reasons it is advisable to do away with sub-
genera in this group and to divide it simply into genera
and species. The classification would then be as
follows :—
OrpER CHPHALOCHORDA.
Family BRANCHIOSTOMIDS.
Genus I. Branchiostoma.
| B. lanceolatum.
B. caribbaeum.
| B. belchert.
ks : Bees |
B. californiense.
Bb. elongatum.
B. capense.
B. indicum.
B. pelagicum.
Genus II. Asymmetron.
A. bassanwm.
A. cingalense.
A. hector.
| A. maldivense.
A. cultellum.
A. lucayanum.
A. caudatum. |
1JTn 1901 when he published his classification.
280 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
In this list B. carzbbeum, B. belchert and B. nakagawe
are bracketed with 2. lanceolatum because I believe that
they are not specifically distinct from B. lanceolatum and
are at most only varieties, while B. belcheri and B.
nikagawe, which are placed in square brackets, seem to be
identical. Professor Lankester in a note at the end of
Kirkaldy’s paper, expressed the opinion that B. lanceola-
tum, B. caribbaeum and B. belchert were not specifically
distinct, and I now venture to endorse that opinion, and
to bring forward evidence in its favour. In the following
table [ have compared the characters of these three
forms, with the exception of the myotomes and their
arrangement.
B. lanceolatum. | — B. belcheri. B. cartbbeum.
Dorsal fin of moderate Same. Same.
height. |
Rostral fin small. Well developed. Small.
Caudal fin lancet shaped Same. Rather poorly
and well developed. developed.
Ventral fin with Same. Same.
chambers and rays.
Oral sphincter verti- Same. Over 5th myot.
cally over 7th myot.
12 intrabuceal ten- Same. Same.
tacles.
21-41 oral cirri accord- Same. Same.
ing to age.
Olfactory pit present. Same. Same.
23-29 prs. of gonads. Same. Same,
Aver. lengths 4°8 c.m. 4 ¢.m. 5 c.m.
|
CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. 281
From this table it 1s apparent that the closest affinity
exists between these three supposed species. The differ-
ences are trivial, especially those of the fins, which,
besides varying so much in one species, are so delicate
that only in the best preserved material do they retain
their true shape. ‘The differences between the three
forms as shown above are not sufficient to separate them
specifically. It is quite evident that they have been
separated merely on the arrangement of the myotomes.
The number of myotomes in B. carizbbeum is 59 to 61; in
B. lanceolatum 58 to 62, and in B. belcherz 62 to 66. It will
be seen that the total number of myotomes in B. caribbaeum
is the same as that of B. lanceolatum, the former total
falling within the limits of the latter; while the total
number of myotomes in B. belcheri never exceeds that of
B. lanceolatum by more than three. In
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CLASSIFICATION OF THE CEPHALOCHORDA. 291
arrangement in A. bassanum. In view, therefore, of its
resemblance to A. cultellwm on the one hand and to A.
bassanum on the other, it seems well to recognise A.
maldivense as a distinct species. A. lucayanum is also
a well marked species, but it is doubtful if A. caudatum
is more than a variety of A. lucayanum. A. caudatum
is only known from two specimens both of which are
larger than the average length of A. lucayanum which
is 19 mm. according to Kirkaldy and 16 mm. according
to Andrews, while A. caudatum measured 20 mm. to 28
mm. F. Cooper! finds that the length of A. lucayanuim
from the Indian Ocean is 18-20 mm., which is about the
size of A. caudatum as observed by Willey. The differ-
ence in size is, therefore, of no account, and this brings
the two species still closer to one another.
A comparison of the formule of the two species shows
a close affinity.
A. caudatum 40, 9, 11 = 60 Willey.
44,9, 11 = 64 Willey.
A, lucayanum 42, 8, 12 = 62
43, 8, 12 = |
44, 8, 12 = 64; Andrews.
44,9, 11 = a
44, 9, 12 = 66
44, 9,13 = 66 Andrews and F. Cooper.
The second formula of A. caudatum agrees exactly with
A. lucayanwm, while the first may only be an individual
variation.
The two species agree exactly in other characters
except that the rostral and caudal fins of A. caudatum
are more deeply constricted off than in A. lucayanum.
I do not think that these shght differences can have
weighed very much with Dr. Willey in forming this new
1 Fauna and Geography of Maldives and Laccadives. Vol. i., Part 4.
292, TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
species. It was the geographical distribution which
apparently was the greatest argument for its separation
from