of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 187 
Cm. March. April. May. September. | November. 
15 
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| 
| 
35 | 
It is clear that the small plaice ranging from about 4cm. to 9cm. in 
spring belong to the previous year, and are one year old or a little more. 
The plaice of the year appear on the sands in May in great swarms, On 
12th May, 1904, a collection of 717, measuring from 12mm, to 18mm., was 
taken on the sandy bottom in Aberdeen Bay in a fine-meshed net in hauls 
made in from 4 to 7 fathoms. On 18th May a collection of 1320 was 
taken in the same way in from 3 to 5 fathoms; they measured up to 
19mm. and 20mm. In both cases several of the specimens were incom- 
pletely metamorphosed. Some of those caught on 12th May were kept 
alive in a tank, and on July 7—56 days afterwards—seven of them 
measured 26mm., 24mm., 24ram., 23mm., 21mm., 19mm., and 17mm. 
From these records it appears that the first group in spring, the sizes of 
which range mostly about 5cem. to 7cm. or 8em., is about one year of age; 
the second group, with a size mostly from 17cm. to possibly 22cm., 
represents two-year-olds; and the third group, ranging mostly about 
29mm. to 32mm., is at least a year older. The numbers of fish are not 
large in any of these collections, and the precise limit between one series 
and another is uncertain. In a collection made on 9th May, 1902, in 
Aberdeen Bay, in from 4 to 10 fathoms, there were 126 plaice, of which 
the first series, over one year old, comprised 98 specimens, ranging in 
size from 57mm. to 126mm., the arithmetical average being 92°2mm., 
and the maximum ordinate on the base-line in the curve 925mm. The 
second series, which was imperfect, comprised 28 specimens from 140mm. 
to 227mm., the average of this lot being 190°8mm., and the maximum 
ordinate 185mm., or 7} inches.* 
* Twentieth Annual Report, Part III., p. 353. 
