1889.] on the Life-history of a Marine Food-fish. 401 



The young v/biting at a later stage (3-5 in.) joins the young cod 

 at the margins of the rocks, and forms independent shoals in tidal 

 harbours, as well as occurs some distance off shore, being frequently 

 got in the mid-water net in the deeper water. Towards the latter 

 size (6-7 in.) it readily takes the hooks of the liner, and in certain bays 

 the multitudes of young whiting prove an inconvenience to the fisher- 

 men. As it increases in size great shoals are formed in the offing, 

 though a few small are almost always found in inshore waters. 



The young round fishes, such as cod, haddock, and whiting, of 

 similar or nearly similar size, seem respectively to herd together. 

 Thus it happens that in certain hauls of both liners and trawlers the 

 majority agree in size. This is well known to the liners, who in 

 former days specially sought out the young cod as already indicated. 

 The same feature is observed in many other fishes, and probably 

 conduces to their safety. 



So far as known, the adult fishes of the three kinds specially 

 alluded to in the preceding paragraph (viz., cod, haddock, and whiting) 

 follow no very definite law in regard to migrations, if we except the 

 apparent congregation in certain regions during the spawning season, 

 as pointed out, for instance by Sars, off Lofoten, where they occur in 

 vast numbers from January to March. In our own country, again, 

 the apj^earauce of shoals of haddocks and whiting in certain locali- 

 ties is another example. How far -such multitudes, however, are 

 influenced by the abundance of food is still an open question. In 

 British seas the herring is the main cause of these congregations in 

 the cod and haddock ; the former chiefly pursuing the fishes, the latter 

 their eggs. In the same way, the abundance of Norway lobsters and 

 similar food on the grounds called banks exercise considerable 

 influence on the presence of cod. 



It has already been pointed out, however, that in their young 

 stages certain migrations do occur. Thus the post-larval cod by-and- 

 by seeks the lamiuarian region, while the older forms for the most 

 part tend to go seaward. The same occurs even in a more pronounced 

 manner with the ling, the adults of which as a rule are found in deep 

 water. The pelagic post-larval ling seeks downwards as it grows, 

 and is seldom found near the shore till it attains the length of six or 

 seven inches, in short, until it is barred with pigment. As it 

 increases in size it migrates seaward. Similar features are noticed 

 in the plaice. As observed in the trawling expeditions of 1884, only 

 large j^laice as a rule are procured in deep water off the east coast, 

 while the sandy bays abound with those ranging from 11 inches 

 downward, and none of the females of which appear to be mature. 

 Multitudes of little plaice haunt the margins of these sandy beaches, 

 but it cannot be said that forms which have the length, for example, 

 of 3 inches, are confined to any particular line drawn across a bay, for 

 small forms (2-4 in.) occur in hauls all over such a bay as that of St. 

 Andrews. Small turbot and halibut in the same way are often found 

 in the shallow bays, while the large adults are inhabitants of the 



