86 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
of fish and increase of demand respectively it is hard to say, but 
surely the former factor is not the least significant in the case. 
Soles.—Immature soles have not been a conspicuous feature 
amongst the catch of large trawling vessels belonging to this port at 
any time since I have been at Grimsby, but on the 21st February of 
the present year a consignment of soles from Lowestoft imcluded 
about 200 pairs, measuring from 6% to 73 inches. On the following 
day a similar consignment was also received in the market. I have 
no actual knowledge as to where or how these fish were caught, but 
am informed that they were most probably taken by Lowestoft boats 
off the Hook of Holland, which appears to be the earliest ground for 
soles on that coast, or near the English coast. 
Cod.—Local custom divides the individuals of this species into 
four sizes. Up to about 20 inches they are ‘ codling,” thereafter 
they rank as “ sprags,”’ until at about 30 inches the dignity of 
“half-cod ” is attained. Larger fish are spoken of simply as cod. 
A sprag is therefore on the borderland of sexual maturity, a condition 
of which all codling fall short. 
My own experience on the North Sea grounds, and the records of 
a great number of hauls kept for me by my friends amongst the 
trawling fraternity, point to the fact that rather more immature than 
mature fish are caught by trawling, but that the number during 
most months of the year and on most grounds is not such as to call 
for special attention. On occasions, when a shoal of herring or some 
less patent cause has attracted large cod to a particular ground, good 
takes are often made ; but, as a general rule, the species appears to be, 
in point of numbers, rather an insignificant product of the fishery. 
Nevertheless, having regard to the high price commanded by fish of 
fair size, and their relative and, as is asserted, increasing scarcity, 
it is obvious that the destruction of young and comparatively worth- 
less examples is a matter to be exceedingly regretted, though it may 
not be easy to suggest a remedy. ‘The most notable instance of their 
destruction which has come under my own observation occurred on 
the Great Fisher Bank in July. <A great part of this important 
ground is covered by a very dense growth of Flustra foliacea (locally 
termed “scented”’ or “lemon weed”), and the net often brought up 
a cart-load or more of it. Very few large or even fair-sized codling 
were taken, but whenever the net came near the surface any number 
of minute examples, 2 to 4 inches long, would float out from among 
the Flustra, dead or dying, marking the wake of the ship with the 
gleam of their silvery abdomens. Others would be found when the 
net was got in, and though it was of course a difficult matter to 
count them, I should say that some hundreds must have perished 
with each haul on the “weed’’-covered part of the ground. It is 
