REPOET ON THE PROBABLE AGES OP YOUNG FISH. 



351 



It will be seen from the table, that Mr. Holt has not obtained 

 the young flounders of the year. The flounder spawns in the North 

 Sea from February to the end of May, probably in March and April 

 chiefly ; there is thus no difference between the periods at Grimsby 

 and at Plymouth, except that at Plymouth it begins and ends a few 

 weeks earlier. The newly metamorphosed flounders appear at 

 Mevagissey in the beginning of May or end of April, and are then 

 only about \ inch long. 



I should think that the shove-net is as well adapted to catch 

 small flounders as small plaice, and there must be plenty of flounders 

 of the year's brood somewhere in the neighbourhood of Grimsby in 

 June and July. Probably the reason that they are absent from 

 these collections is that they ascend the rivers, and are, therefore, 

 not to be found at the mouth of the estuary with the plaice. 



Pleuronectes limanda, the Dab. 



NEW SERIES. — VOL. II, NO. IV. 



27 



