16 



of shore-haunting Amphipoda on this coast, viz., Callio- 

 pius leviusculus and Amathilla sabini is also interesting. 



Sole and Solenette. 

 One of the most important fisheries in this district is 

 the Sole fishery, and this is probably one which might be 

 considerably improved in the future bv artificial fertiliza- 

 tion and hatching. The Sole spawns i pring and early 

 summer, and from our statistics in this neighbourhood I 

 have selected the following as giving some idea of the 

 growth during the first year : — 

 Aug., Horse Channel, 2 inches. 

 Oct., Blackpool, Kibble and Hilbre, 21—4 in. 

 Nov., Blackpool, Southport and Kock Channel, 3 — 4 in. 

 Dec, Liverpool Bar, 3| in. 

 April, Horse Channel and Crosby, 5 in. 

 May, Crosby Channel, 6 in. 



According to the observations of Cunningham at Plymouth 

 the young soles do not there pass the first year of their 

 lives (3 to 12 months old) in the shallow waters, but 

 somewhere outside the 10 fm. line ; but all the localities 

 which I have given above for young soles from 2 to 5 inches 

 in length are in shallow water, being on an average about 

 4 or 5 fms. Here, as elsewhere, we find the young soles in 

 shallow water the following summer, when they are over 

 a year old ; but they probably do not become sexually 

 mature until the end of the second year. There is appar- 

 ently considerable individual variation in size, but at the 

 end of the first year the young soles are on an average 

 about 5 or 6 inches in length, and at the end of the second 

 year are about from 7 — 9 inches in length. 



Every sole ought if possible to be allowed to come to 

 sexual maturity and spawn before being caught. It is 

 most desirable, as has been suggested in various quarters 



