of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 191 
In one or two of the coliections a second group is fairly well indicated. 
Thus, in that of 26th April, we have a series extending from 112mm. to 
164mm, (43-64 inches), most being aggregated at 12cm. to l4dem. This 
group is apparently approaching two years of age. Then, in the collection 
taken on Ist September, the second group begins at 89mm, and apparently 
ends at 153mm., and it represents fish at nearly the end of their second 
summer’s growth. A comparison of the Tables and dates will show that 
the very small dabs grow slowly, and like the small plaice, grow very 
little in winter. 
Moray Fiera. 
In some collections from the Moray Firth the small dabs are also well 
shown (Tables [X—X.). On 9th February, of a collection got in the 
Dornoch Firth, in from 64 to 10 fathoms of water, 377 ranged in size from 
3lmm. to 78mm., the greater number being aggregated from 4cm. to dem. 
These fish, of course, belonged to the spawning of the previous year, and 
were about nine months oid. On the 7th December, in another collection 
from the Dornoch Firth, in from 4 to 9 fathoms, 219 specimens measured 
from 24mm. to 65mm. (the next largest being 92mm.) ; they were mostly 
aggregated from 32mm. to 42mm., and chiefly at 36mm., or barely 
14 inches, In a large collection made at Smith Bank on the 27th 
December, 1903, 66 small dabs measured from 25mm. to 72mm. (the next 
largest being 84mm.), and in this case the greater number were aggregated 
between 25mm. and 35mm. 
In the Tables the measurements of a large number of older dabs are 
given, but the division between the annual series is not always very clear. 
In the Dornoch Firth, in the hauls in December, a group with the 
majority of the specimens aggregated between 10cm. and 12cm. (about 
41 inches) may be noted; while in the collections from Smith Bank in the 
same month the group has the aggregate between 10cm. and 14cm. In 
the haul from the Witch ground at the end of January the aggregate is 
at 14:5cm. to 15-5em. (52-62 inches), and these fish are approaching 
their third year. 
FLOUNDER (Pleuronectes jlesus ). 
The information afforded by the collections as to the rate of growth of 
the flounder is rather scanty, small specimens of this species coming only 
rarely under observation in the course of the investigations. The young 
flounders prefer the shallows, especially at the mouths of streams, and 
where the water is brackish, and even the adult is uncommon in water of 
moderate depth, except at certain times of the year. The number 
measured was 231]. 
In the course of the push-nettings in Lochfyne specimens of flounders 
were occasionally secured, though usually in very small numbers. <A 
series obtained on 5th July, 31 in all, measured from 16mm. to 53mm. 
(3-24 inches), the greater part being grouped at 3cm., or scarcely 1} 
inches, the arithmetical average being 31‘9mm., or 1}? inches. This is 
rather more than with the little plaice collected at the same time, in which 
case the majority ranged from 24mm. to 32mm., and the computed 
average size was 30'3mm. The spawning period of the flounder in Loch- 
fyne, according to Williamson, is a little later than that of the plaice.* 
It is not unlikely that at this period the habitat of the young flounder 
leads to an exceptionally rapid growth, viz. in the very shallow and 
mostly brackish waters, where the temperature in the summer months is 
highest ; and probably also its growth in winter is arrested. 
*Seventeenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, Part Il. 
