NOETH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 31 



6 specimens in which the condition of the reproductive organs was as 

 follows : — 



Length of fish 14 4 in. Testis a thin translucent cord : fish apparently 

 immature. 



Length 15 in. Female, ovary small, I5 in. long, no yolk, no granular 

 masses : apparently immature. 



Length 17f in. Female, ovary spent, Ij^in. long, much mucus in 

 cavity. In the germinal tissue yolkless eggs and dead partially yolked 

 eggs as in spent plaice, but the latter were few and scattered. 



Length 19|in. Female, ovary 2g in., spent. Same condition as in 

 preceding. 



Length 20 Hn. Female, spent ; same condition. 



Length 20i-in. Male, spent, testis almost invisible. 



There can be little doubt here about the rapid recovery of the 

 ovary, and the danger of confusing immature with recovered fish. 



On the other hand, in the lemon dab and common sole, the spawning 

 process in a single female is gradual and prolonged, and spent females 

 do not appear early in the spawning season. When a ripe ovary of 

 these two species is examined, the eggs are not found to be nearly 

 uniform in development, but to form a graduated series down to the 

 minute. In spite of this similarity I have observed that a large number 

 of ripe eggs can be obtained at one time from a lemon dab, and the 

 testes are of considerable size, but still, according to Dr. Fulton's 

 figures, smaller in proportion to the ovaries than in the plaice. The 

 witch appears to resemble the plaice, the eggs developing uniformly, 

 and the testes being rather large. 



I have examined a few witches at Cleethorpes. The size of mature 

 and immature specimens has not been so carefully studied in this 

 species as in others. On February 18th I examined 6 specimens. Two 

 were males, both mature, 15^ and 16 J- in. long; four were females, 16i 

 to 18jin, and all mature, but not ripe; that is to say, the ovaries 

 were enlarged, and the development of the yolk in the eggs advanced. 

 On February 23rd I examined 4 more, all females, 15 in. to 19Mn. 

 long, and all mature. 



Mr. Holt found some lemon dabs immature at 12 in., and 50 per cent, 

 of the females at 11 in. At Plymouth I examined numbers of females 

 down to 7 in. long, and none were immature. My observations 

 were made from January to March, Mr. Holt's between February 

 and September. On February 18th last I examined G specimens : 

 2 were mature males, 12| and 12o in. long, 3 were mature females, 

 12^ to ISf in. ; and one 9y in. was an immature female. There could 

 be no doubt about the last specimen, as no spent females were to be 

 found at that date. 



