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Part III. — Twenty-second Annual Report 



to its length is the turbot, and after it comes the brill ; at the opposite 

 extreme is the witch, which is the lightest of all :— 



Among the other flat-fishes the lemon sole comes after the brill, then 

 the plaice, common dab, flounder, and long rough dab, but several of 

 them are very close together. Among the round-fishes the cod is the 

 heaviest in proportion to its length, with the haddock next, and then the 

 whiting. The sprat is, in proportion to its length, heavier than the 

 herring, which shows much the same ratio as the long rough dab. It is 

 noteworthy that the extremes in regard to the length- weight ratio should 

 be exhibited among the flat-fishes. 



It wall also be noticed that the variation in weight at a given size in 

 the same species increases very much as the fish grows in length, so that 

 at the larger sizes, of the cod or turbot for example, the variation in this 

 respect is most pronounced. For this reason the terminal parts of the 

 curves are less satisfactory than the lower parts, as may be seen in the 

 diagrams, and it would probably require a very extensive series of 

 observations on these larger forms to give the relation between the length 

 and the weight with high precision. Nevertheless, I think the curves 

 given will be found useful in dealing with many questions connected 

 with the fisheries. 



The number of the various species which have been measured and 

 weighed for the purpose of this research are as follows : — 



-the total being 5675 fishes. 



