OVARIES OF FISHES. 165 
On May 4th I saw a tuck-net hauled for flat fish at Beesands 
near Torcross. The mesh of the net was 14 inches square. The 
whole net was 100 feet long, and it was hauled by fourteen men, 
seven at each end.. The catch was very small, a few small fish were 
thrown back before I saw them, besides these there were thirty 
flounders 63 to 18} inches long, four plaice under 8 inches, and six 
above, and a few dabs. ‘The men told me that the fishing was 
unusually poor, but as they have scarcely any market for flat-fish, 
and use the produce of their seines principally to bait their crab- 
pots with, it is certain that the seine fishery at Beesands is too 
small to be of great importance in relation to the destruction of 
immature fish. 
On June 8th I obtained on the Barbican, Plymouth, a number of 
small soles brought in from Saltash, and probably caught by tuck 
seines in the Hamoaze. There were twenty-seven altogether, and 
they were sold for seven shillings. Seven of them were under 8 
inches in length, and all except one under 10 inches. Hight were 
mature males, the rest were immature. 
