352 



REPORT ON THE TROBABLE AOER OF YOUNG FISH. 



Mr. Holt tells me that the dab began to spawn at Grimsby in the 

 middle of February^ and continued till the end of May ; March 

 and Apinl being the principal months. Taking this into considera- 

 tion, I find that among all the specimens registered above only one 

 could possibly be derived from the spawning of 1892, namely the 

 specimen f inch long, taken on March 30th. I do not think that a 

 specimen, hatched towards the end of February, could reach a 

 length of Ij inches by the end of March, and have, therefore, 

 attributed the specimens of that size to the spawning of the previous 

 year. The young dabs from the same year's spawning were not 

 taken in the shore-nets in June and July together with the plaice. 

 I have estimated the probable age of the lai'ger specimens in accord- 

 ance with the considerations discussed in a former paper (this 

 Journal, vol. ii. No. 2, p. 101). The examination of these speci- 

 mens confirms the conclusions I formed from those collected at 

 Plymouth. 



There is only one specimen of the lemon sole {Pleuronectes micro- 

 cephalus) in the collection ; it is 7^ inches ( 19 cm.) long, taken on the 

 south-west edge of the Dogger Bank in 12^ to 33 fathoms on April 

 2nd. This specimen may have been one year old, but was more 



