106 



NOKTII SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 



In order to make a direct comparison between the samples already 

 mentioned with one from more northern grounds, I obtained a box from 

 Billingsgate. Mr. liichard Vivian, agent of the Hull Steam Fishing and 

 Ice Co., kindly undertook to send me a box, with reliable information 

 concerning the ground on which the fish were taken, and was in a posi- 

 tion to obtain this information from the master of the steam carrier 

 which l)rought the fish from the fishing fleet to London. Accordingly I 

 received, on December Gth, a box of plaice which had been trawled on 

 the south side of the Dogger Bank, in 55° 20' north latitude, 4° 30' east 

 longitude, at a depth of 24 fathoms. 



The following is the record of the sizes and condition in this 

 sample : — 



Plaice from South Side of ;N"orth-Eastern Portion of the Dogger 



Bank, 24 Fathoms, December 6th, 1895. 



Total number, 68. 



16 20 5 27 



(235 per cent.) (29"4 per cent.) (7"4 per cent.) (39"7 per cent.) 



68 



The upper limit of the immature here is as high as in Mr. Holt's 

 results; the lower limit of the mature is unusually high. The reason of 

 the latter fact is to be found in the small number of specimens at each 

 size in the sample. Mr. Vivian informed me that the plaice were 

 packed in two sets, some boxes containing only large fish, others 

 containing mixed sizes. My sample was one of the latter. We 

 cannot, therefore, look upon this sample as representing the general 

 condition of the plaice caught on the ground from which it came, 

 but it is important to notice that considerable numbers of plaice 

 from 10 in. to 13 in. long, and quite immature, are caught right in 

 the middle of the North Sea, about 150 miles from the coast either 

 on the east or west. 



