104 



NORTH SEA INVESTIGAIIOXS. 



both much less numerous, and generally larger in late summer and 

 autumn. 



I have found that the condition of the plaice along the English coasts 

 of Norfolk and Suffolk is not the same as along the opposite Dutch 

 coast. It would appear that the Channel conditions extend northwards 

 along the Dutch coast, while the size of the mature plaice, which 

 is characteristic of more northern grounds, extends southwards to some 

 distance alone: the English coast. Some of the Lowestoft smacks were 

 fishing in October, near the Leman Shoal, and on neighbouring grounds, 

 and were landing plaice considerably larger than those from the Brown 

 Eidges. I examined a box of these large plaice on October 4th, in 

 the same week in which I examined the sample from the Brown 



Eidges. The results were as follows : — 



Plaice from Leman Shoal, October 4th, 

 Total number, 115. 



Females. 



1895. 



52 29 34 



(45-2 per cent.) (25'2 per cent.) (29'6 per cent.) 



115 



The Leman Shoal is somewhat further north than the Brown Eidges, 

 being in the same latitude as the island of Texel, and the depth in its 

 neighbourhood does not exceed 20 fathoms. The contrast between these 

 plaice and those from the Brown Eidges is very marked. It will be seen 

 that the proportion of mature females among the former is not much 

 greater, 25-2 per cent., as compared with 21-5 per cent, of those from the 

 Ikown Eidges. If we take the females separately, the proportion of 

 mature individuals among these is certainly higher in the sample from 

 the Leman Shoal, i.e. the sample of larger fish : it is 4G per cent, among 

 these, o6'l per cent, among the fish from the Brown Eidges. But this 

 is not a very great difference, and appears to be due chietly to the fact 



