OF THE BAYS BETWEEN THE START AND EXMOUTH. 561 



BLONDE. 



(Raia hlanda.) 



Start Bay. — Eight fish examined. 



CRUSTACEA. 



Gastrosaccus spinifer. Common in six. 



PISCES. 



Ammodytes sp. ? Coniiiion in six. | Pagellus sp. In two. 



Trachinus mpera. In two. 



DORY. 



{Ze2is faher.) 

 Start Bay. — All those examined contained numbers of small 

 Gadoids, probably Gadns pollachins. 



Although the number of fish stomachs examined is too small to 

 draw any definite conclusion, the results tend to confirm the observa- 

 tions of Petersen,* Herdman,-|- and the Scottish Fishery Board,! which 

 show that the dab may not be a serious competitor with the plaice in 

 the matter of food. Both species appear to feed at times on the 

 same organisms ; but the plaice, on the grounds examined, confined 

 themselves chiefly to Mollusca and Polychoeta, whereas the dab did not 

 specialise in any one group. The dab, therefore, could only become a 

 serious competitor with the plaice if it largely predominated in 

 numbers. The presence of Sagartia ? in such numbers in the stomachs 

 of dabs from the " Hitches " is an interesting record. It is probable 

 that the anemone was attached to Turritdla or other gastropod shells, 

 as one or two were found in that position. 



* Petersen, " Biology of our Flatfishes," 1893, p. 30. 



t Herdman and Scott, Trans. Liverpool Biological Society, vol. ix., 1895. pp. 107-30. 



X lleiwrt S. F .B.,x. pp. 211-31 ; xx. pp. 486-538. 



