OF THE GRIMSBY IT'RAWL FISHERY. 399 
little plaice of an inch long, nor to trace the spawn to the repro- 
ductive organs of the parent. How much of this theory is actually 
believed, and how much is assumed in order to humbug people 
whom the shrimper believes to be in the almost unattainable 
position of knowing less about fish than he does himself, it is 
impossible to say. As long as it can be used as an argument 
against interfering with his pursuits it will probably flourish. 
I have already explained (swpra, p. 378) that the actual existence 
of a dwarf variety of plaice in the Baltic, and to some extent on the 
North Sea coast of Denmark, may have probably given rise to 
opinions that the small plaice on the Hastern grounds do not grow 
larger, but that the plaice which are found on these grounds belong 
to the ordinary North Sea type, and are simply young specimens 
thereof. 
The lemon sole is found in most parts of the North Sea, both on 
deep and shallow grounds, but occurs nowhere in very large 
numbers, and is certainly far from plentiful on the Hastern side— 
at least, large numbers are not caught together ; but, as the fish 
has a decided partially for “ roughs,” it may possibly be plentiful 
on rocky ground quite inaccessible to the trawler. It is not, how- 
ever, by any means confined to rough ground, being found in fair 
numbers on the sandy expanse of the Fisher Bank and on perfectly 
smooth ground elsewhere. The spawning period is protracted, ex- 
tending from April to September, and spawning does not take place 
in shallow water. Very little is known of the life-history. Previous 
to 1893 young fish of less than about 6 inches were hardly known, 
the only specimens accounted for being a few of 2 and 44 inches 
taken on the Smith Bank in the Moray Firth, at 20 fathoms, and 
two incompletely metamorphosed examples of less than 2 inches 
which I recorded from 62 to 80 fathoms on the west coast of 
Ireland. It was obvious that the corresponding stages could not 
be passed at the same depths in the North Sea—il n’y en avait pas 
de quot, but I supposed that at least the young fish were confined 
to considerable depths. I was therefore a good deal surprised to 
find the species occurring in some numbers in the Humber from a 
length of 2 to about 4 inches, and, more sparingly, upwards to 
11 inches. They were never at the immediate margin, lke the 
very young plaice, but in rather deeper water. A certain number of 
these very small lemon soles appear to remain in the river throughout 
the year, and I do not know anywhere else that they occur. I 
have no knowledge of the occurrence of small lemon soles on the 
EKastern grounds. 
Of the distribution of the common dab and its life-history, it is 
sufficient to say that it is found everywhere and at all stages in 
