24 Fishery Board for Scotland. 



The above table also shows that the higher the percentage of eggs 

 in the later stages of development the more miiformly are they distri- 

 buted throughout the different water layers. As the percentage for 

 Station X., M. F. has been calculated from the surface haul only it may 

 be too high. This station is, however, very close to Lossiemouth, 

 where the percentage of eggs in the "a" stage in the surface haul 

 only is 52"9. It appears that the area from Lossiemouth to Station X. 

 was a very important spawning area for plaice in March 1906. 



Two hypotheses may be assumed to account for the distribution of 

 the eggs in the later stages of development, (1) Such eggs may belong 

 to the area in which they are found. It would follow from this as- 

 sumption that the spawning season off Kinnaird Head had begun some- 

 what earlier, and that the season was practically over in March ; and, 

 further, that the chief spawning time became later and later in a 

 westerly direction to Lossiemouth. This deduction is contrary to the 

 conditions found on the line east from Tarbet Ness. There it has been 

 shown that the spawning time became later and later towards the east. 

 (2) The eggs in the later stages of development may not belong to the 

 area in which they were taken, but have drifted from some more or less 

 distant spawning area. The results from both lines of stations are in 

 agreement with this hypothesis. 



Station X., Moray Firth, was again visited on the 26th March 1908, 

 when 120 eggs, 90 (75 per cent.) in the " a" stage, were taken in the 

 surface net. The newly spawned eggs were on this occasion relatively 

 most numerous in the surface layers, and they totalled only 40 per cent, 

 of all the plaice eggs taken at the station. 



Observations were also made at Troup Head on 19th March 1908. 

 The results agree with those for March 1906 at this locality. Ten eggs at 

 the " 05 " stage of development were taken at the surface, and the newly 

 spawned eggs constituted 37 "5 per cent, of the total. The eggs in the 

 later stages of development were relatively more numerous in the 

 deeper water layers. 



Burghead Bay. 



Although the stations lying to the east of Lossiemouth have not 

 been visited in the months of January and February, the Burghead 

 area, which is not far distant from Lossiemouth in a westerly direction, 

 has received special attention. 



In this area there is considerable range in depth and in the character 

 of the bottom within four miles of the shore. The deeper and gradually 

 narrowing channel which runs into the Moray Firth ends in a finger- 

 like process at a depth of thirty fathoms off Burghead. It is well 

 known that the large plaice which congregate here in the winter months 

 are found in great numbers neither in the very shallow water close to 

 the shore nor in the deep muddy gut off-shore, but that they gather in 

 considerable numbers in a very restricted area in the intermediate 

 depths. It is not safe to assume, however, that all the adult plaice 

 which are here in the winter months remain in the immediate vicinity 

 for the purpose of spawning in the spring. 



This interesting area was visited in December of 1907, and again in 

 December 1912, for the purpose of making plankton collections, but on 

 neither occasion were any plaice eggs obtained. It is unfortunate that 



