A? Eo. ALN. 
distances from the shore. In order to make it clear why this is so, it 
will be necessary to give a short account of the distribution of the Plaice 
according to size, and for this purpose we will consider its distribution 
in the North Sea. 
When we were dealing with the larval stages of the Plaice, you will 
recollect that we left the earliest bottom stages inhabiting the margins 
of the sandy shores in quite shallow water. During the first year of their 
life the young Plaice remain close to the shore in depths under ten 
fathoms. As they grow larger they move further and further seawards 
Fie. 5.—Plaice. Catch per hour of the III Group. (After Wallace.) 
© = May, 1906 (Covered Beam Trawl). 
oO = September, 1905 (Otter Traw]). 
away from these nursery grounds, and in the North Sea it may be taken 
as a general rule that the average size of the Plaice becomes larger the 
further out ito the open sea we get. 
This is well illustrated by the charts published by Garstang (8) showing 
the distribution of Plaice in the North Sea according to average size. 
This seaward movement, it is important to note, depends upon the size 
of the fish rather than upon their age, so that the larger individuals of any 
year class are found further out to sea than the smaller ones. If we now 
look at the next Chart by Wallace (Fig. 5), which illustrates the catch 
per hour of Plaice of the III Group, that is fish between three and four 
years old, on the line running out from the Dutch coast—from Texel to 
the Leman Bank we shall see that this group is taken along the whole 
line. It is most abundant near the coast, where the average size of the 
fish is small, and the numbers captured gradually diminish as we move 
seawards, the size of the fish at the same time becoming larger. The 
chart also shows that between May (represented by the circles) and 
