THE MAEINE FAUNA AND THE OVA OF FISHES. 199 



there are a very large number of small boats fisliiug in 

 the Souud after sunset, and as each carries a somewhat 

 brilliant light to prevent vessels under weigh running her 

 down, the sight from the Hoe is very pretty, and reminds 

 one of a Venetian fete. The herring taken are all full, 

 i. e. in mature spawning condition, till towards the end of 

 the season, when large numbers of spent fish are taken. In 

 Cawsand Bay, on the west side of the Sound, moored nets 

 are used to catch herring ; these are of the same kind as 

 drift nets, but are fixed by means of anchors at each end, 

 instead of being allowed to drift with the tide. 



As both full and spent herring are taken inside the 

 Sound, it is natural to conclude that the spawn is actually 

 deposited within that area. It is well known that herring 

 spawn is adhesive, and attaches itself to stones and weed at 

 the bottom of the water. Systematic dredging was there- 

 fore carried on all over the Sound in January with a view 

 of finding some of the spawn, and so ascertaining at which 

 spots it was deposited. But the search was entirely unsuc- 

 cessful, circumstances did not allow of similar researches 

 being cairied on outside the Sound, and the question of the 

 exact locality where the herring deposit their spawn in the 

 neighbourhood of Plymouth remains to be answered in 

 future seasons. Herring ova have so often been studied 

 and described, that no special study of them was made, and 

 no arrangements were available for hatching any. Young 

 herring were frequently taken in the tow-nets in the months 

 of February and March. 



The ova of the common sole had, at the beginning of the 

 present year, never been examined or desci'ibed. It had 

 been thought by some that male soles were very rarely caught, 

 but on dissection of specimens procured from the fish-quay I 

 found that this was not correct, and in subsequent work on 

 the species I never had difficulty in procuring specimens of 

 the male sex. After the beginning of February I went out 

 frequently in trawlers on their ordinary trips for the express 

 purpose of examining soles in a sexually ripe condition, and 

 artificially fertilizing samples of the ova. On February 6th, 

 I made my first examination of living soles about ten miles 



