125 



Mr. Vallentiii next on July 29, had a large seine sixty fathoms long and two 

 fathoms deep hauled in the Helford River ; two hauls were taken, and a number of red 

 mullet and flounders were taken, but only one sole, which was sent to me. It was 

 4^- inches in length. 



Now it is obviously impossible to believe that young soles which were f inch in 

 length on May 31, could have grown to 5 inches in length by the end of July. The 

 growth of flat-fishes is not so rapid as that. The spawning of the plaice at Plymouth 

 takes place in February, and is completed early in March. On June 17, 1889, I 

 obtained a large number of j'oung plaice by trawling at night in Whitsand Bay : these 

 measured If to 2--^^ inches (3-4 to 5-9 cm.) in length ; another specmien which I got 

 from Sutton Pool on September 28, measured 2y^ inches (6-2 cm.). On May 16, 

 1889, I obtained a large number of small plaice from the Cattewater, where I saw 

 them caught in a small seine : these measured 4f to nearly 7 inches in length. It is 

 evident therefore that these last specimens were more than a year old, namely, fifteen 

 montlis, and it is obvious that the soles caught by Mr. Vallentin were sixteen months 

 old, reckoning from the end of March as the spawning time. They were soles in the 

 second year of their growth. I have in my collection another small sole, measuring 

 4| inches (12'5 cm.) which was caught either in Plymouth Sound or on the trawling 

 ground off Plymouth, at the end of February, 1888. This must have been just a year old. 



Why I have failed to obtain soles in the first year of their growth, after the stage 

 of those found at Mevagissey in May, I cannot understand. It may be owing to some 

 peculiarity of habit, that though I obtained young plaice and other species of flat- 

 fishes by trawling in shallow water in Whitsand Bay, I caught no soles. Of course 

 soles in the neighbourhood of Plymouth are much less numerous than plaice, flounders, 

 dabs, or merry-soles {PI. microcephalus), and this doubtless adds to the difficulty of 

 finding them. However, the problem will, I hope, be solved next year. 



It has been shown that the young soles spawned in March have completed their 

 metamorphosis by the middle of May, when they are \ to -^ inch in length (12 to 

 15 mm.); that on May 31 they are about f inch long (18 mm.) ; and that in one 

 year they grow to about 5 inches in length. We have now to consider their subsequent 

 growth. 



Soles of small size but larger than any of those just mentioned are taken in 

 Plymouth Sound in considerable numbers by the small shrimps trawls, which have a 

 beam of 12 to 15 feet in length. Such trawls are regularly worked in the Sound for 

 shrimps and prawns, and one of them is regularly used for the collecting work of our 

 Laboratory. On May 10, 1889, the Laboratory fisherman took with the shrimp 

 trawl in the Cattewater, six soles measuring 6f to 7f inches in length (17"1 cm. to 

 19'6 cm.). Another caught on May 6, measured 9-i^ inches (23-3 cm.). I consider 

 these soles to be just over two years old. Soles from this size upwards are almost 

 always to be caught in the Sound, but the larger are less plentiful. They are never 

 very abundant, but usually about half-a-dozen can be caught in a day's work. 



