NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. Ill 



was described by me in the previous number. That ground was farther 

 seaward than the ground where the small plaice were taken ; 

 it was mostly from 24 to 30 miles from Blaavand Point, the 

 nearest land, and the depth 11 to 15 fathoms. The plaice were in 

 both voyages mostly between 12 and 26 inches in length, although 

 about twice as abundant on the German side. The haddock, too, 

 were abundant at the Horn Eeef, scarce in the voyage of the Rhine, 

 and most other kinds of fish were more abundant on the German 

 Ground, but in the absence of small turbot and brill the two grounds 

 agree. My expectation, therefore, of examining during the voyage of 

 the Rhine, grounds which corresponded in their depth and distance 

 from the Lincolnshire coast with the small plaice grounds to the 

 north of Heligoland, was disappointed. Nor could I find other 

 opportunities of making such an examination. I questioned some of 

 the skippers of sailing smacks which fished the home grounds near 

 the Humber, and was informed that they trawled chiefly in the 

 Yorkshire Hole or Little Silver Pit, and the Westernmost Kough, 

 grounds mostly about 20 miles from the coast. The plaice which I 

 saw landed from these boats were small, but there was no great 

 quantity of them, not more than one box from any one boat. 

 Besides the plaice they had about 3 boxes of soles, 3 or 4 boxes of 

 haddocks, and a few cod, lemon soles, and turbot. I bought a 

 sample of the small plaice, and found there were 18 females 8i in- 

 to 12^ in. long; 19 males 8^ in. to 12J in. long. 



The evidence is, therefore, still incomplete, but as far as it goes 

 it does not support a supposition I had formed that large plaice 

 20 in. and upwards were found in shallower water, and nearer the 

 land on the English coast than on the German. This supposition 

 was suggested to me by the fact that whereas only small plaice were 

 brought from certain grounds on the German side, I could not dis- 

 cover that there were any grounds ofi' the Lincolnshire coast where 

 only small plaice were caught. At present we have no proof, how- 

 ever, that the larger plaice are to be taken at depths of 7 to 12 

 fathoms on the Lincolnshire coast. The shallow grounds, close to 

 that coast, are not so extensive as on the German side, and accord- 

 ing to my experience the Grimsby trawlers usually find more 

 profitable fishing in the deep gullies, to which there is nothing 

 corresponding on the German coast, and in which large plaice are 

 taken It may also be noticed that even in the voyage of the John 

 Bull the small plaice became scarce as soon as the ship steamed to 

 a somewhat greater distance from the land. Thus our course from 

 the Spurn Lightship was E.^S., which would take us to a position 

 S.E. of the Sylt Island : at our first haul the depth was 13 to 14 



