of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 197 
Number of Range in | Average 
Kish, Length. | Size. 
ae ety oo SD is ES") ear we) ee 
28th December 1903. 73 46-65mm. | 568mm. 
23rd January 1904 . . 57 47-68mm. | 57°4mm. 
Ist April1904. . . . 84 47-70mm. | 562mm. 
| 
As already stated, the locality of the collections in December and April 
were the same, and the facts show how much retarded the growth of 
this fish may be during winter. 
In previous collections, described in my paper in the Twentieth Annual 
Report, numbers of these small long rough dabs were secured, and the 
average length in some cases may be referred to. The facts show that 
the growth of this somewhat deep-water fish does not materially differ in 
the north-eastern parts of the North Sea as compared with the Moray 
Firth. In the deep water off the Shetlands, on 3lst August and 4th 
September, the average size was 483mm. and 48-4mm. On 16th-19th 
October it was 53-3mm.; on 11th December it was 54°4mm., and on 19th 
May 68'4mm. Off Aberdeen Bay, on 21st August, 11 specimens had an 
average length of 53mm.; on 16th December the average length of 116 
specimens was 65°5\mm. On 4th July, in from 83-85 fathoms, off 
Kinnaird Head, 146 had an average length of 98°3mm. (33 inches). It 
is thus clear that the growth of this fish, as formerly remarked, is slow, 
and that when one year old its average length does not greatly exceed two 
inches. 
In some of the collections the older groups are well indicated. In that 
of 28th December, off Burghead, the sexes were not completely separated, 
but in the lot of 23rd January they were. The females in the second 
series in this collection range in length from 92mm. to about 129mm. 
(33-551, inches), the average being about 112mm., or 1lcem. (4} inches). 
The males vary in size from 89mm. to 118mm. or thereabout, and the 
average size is a little over 10cm. (or 4 inches). The increase in length 
from the previous annual series is thus about 5:5cm., or 2} inches; in 
other words, the females at this stage grow about that more in the course 
of a year. The difference in the case of the males is less, viz., from 
57mm. to about 103mm., or 4:5cm., a little over 1? inches. 
The curve in this case shows a somewhat more rapid growth of the 
females than the males, the latter lagging behind, and the fact suggests 
that the males are approaching reproductive activity. I have shown 
before that males may be sexually mature when scarcely 5 inches 
(127mm.) long, and may show testes half developed when only 34 inches 
(89mm.) long. The date of this collection about coincides with the 
beginning of the spawning season, and is more than three months distant 
from its close, and thus probably some of the males would reach repro- 
ductive length during the spawning season. It is much more likely that 
the third series represented in the collection is the chief reproductive 
series. In it the males extend in length from 11l*5em. (44 inches) to 
16cm. or over (63 inches), the average size being about 13-5em. (5} 
inches). This group is very nearly three years of age. 
The females in the third series are widely separated from the second, 
so that, in the curve, the curve of measurements of the males of the third 
series is intercalcated in the gap between the curve for the second and 
third series of females—a usual circumstance among flatfishes at the 
