214 
be destroyed in this way, but the variation in the salinity 
of those waters has not been thoroughly investigated. 
Wherever spawning grounds may be located in the 
Trish Sea, it is hardly likely that a longer period than 
40-45 days can elapse before the larva finds itself in suitable 
conditions on shallow sandy shores. 
The young Plaice now enters on its life in the 
“nursery” ground. Practically the whole of the Lanca- 
shire and Cheshire coast consists of ground of this charac- 
ter—flat, sandy shores with shallow water overlying. 
There are, however, several localities to which in par- 
ticular the term is applied; there is the whole of the 
shallow water round the mouth of the Mersey, the whole 
estuary of the Ribble; the ground out from Blackpool. 
known as the Blackpool closed ground, the whole of 
Morecambe Bay and the estuary of the Duddon at the 
boundary of Lancashire and Cumberland. On all these 
grounds vast quantities of young and immature Plaice up 
to fish of 2-3 years old are found. Very young Plaice and 
other Pleuronectids appear on these shores during June 
every year. ‘They have as a rule completed their meta- 
morphosis, though a few may generally be got with the 
eyes in the course of rotation. They are generally about 
z inch and less in length, but have assumed the perfect 
form of the adult (fig. 37). They may be found in great 
numbers in the shallow sandy pools left by the receding 
tide, where very many are stranded and perish. By the 
autumn these little fish have grown to about 2-3 inches 
in length. They are then present in great numbers on the 
banks or shallower waters of the nursery ground. In 
winter they disappear to a great extent from these banks, 
or at least are not taken in the shrimp trawl, and it is 
probable that they either bury themselves in the sand 
when the colder weather approaches (this is a common 
