AND THEIR DISTEIBUTION AT DIFFERENT AGES. 



99 



individuals on the sea bottom have a much greater area to wander 

 over. 



With regard to distribution it is noteworthy that I have taken no 

 flounders under 7 inches long except in the estuaries of Catte- 

 water and the HamoazOj although I have seen numbers of ripe 

 flounders brought up in the trawl on the ground inside the 

 Eddystone from a depth of 25 to 28 fathoms. Dr. Fulton 

 also failed to find any small flounders in the results of the 

 Garland's fishing at various depths and distances from the shore 

 with a small-meshed trawl. It seems pretty certain that the flounder 

 in its immature state is confined to inlets and especially estuaries^ 

 where the water is more or less brackish. It certainly spawns in 

 the open sea up to depths of 30 fathoms ; but even adults are 

 found far up such estuaries as the Firth of Forth, and the Catte- 

 water at Plymouth. 



Pleuronectes platessa, the Plaice. 



It may seem that I have estimated the age of the specimens in 

 the last entry of the table too highly, but it must be remembered 

 that the plaice reaches by no means so large a size on the south- 

 west coast of England as it does on the east coast. In fact, in the 

 neighbourhood of Plymouth the plaice is not very much larger than 

 the flounder. Dr. Fulton gives the maximum size of the plaice as 



