70 Part III—Twenty-first Annual Report 
were taken, seventeen being females, measuring from 113 mm. to 132 
mm. (43-58, inches), and thirty males, from 93 mm. to 135 mm. (344- 
5°; inches). The average size of the females was 120°4 mm. or 4? 
inches, and of the males 111:7 mm. or 43 inches, They were ripe and 
spawning. On 3lst July a haul for forty-five minutes, in from eleven 
to thirteen fathoms, opposite the mouth of the Ythan in Aberdeen Bay, 
gave eighty-two specimens, viz, fifteen females and sixty-seven males. 
These fish were spawning, ripe eggs and spermatic fluid oozing on 
touching them, and it was thus a simple matter to determine the sex. 
On 4th September, off Newburgh, Aberdeen Bay, in ten fathoms, one, 
135 mm. long, was taken, the sex of which was not determined ; on the 
same day, two females, 118 and 127 mm., both spent. 
The smallest ripe female in July measured 110 mm. (4% inches), the 
next being 113 mm., and the largest was 161 mm. (63 inches). The 
smallest ripe male measured 91 mm. or 3,8, inches, and the largest 138 
mm. (5,', inches). Forty-one of the males were under the size of the 
smallest female, and fifty under the size of the second smallest. The 
excess of males is contrary to the rule among fishes producing pelagic 
eggs, the only exception previously stated being in the case of the 
flounder ;* but it is perhaps questionable whether the figures mentioned 
really represent the true proportions in numbers between the sexes, 
The lesser weever, as was known to Parnell,t is extremely common in 
the Solway, and I find from the examination of 124 specimens from 
there that the females were slightly in excess, viz, 64 to 60 males, 
They were taken in April, May, August, September, October, and 
November, none being secured in June and July, when they had 
probably migrated into deeper water to spawn. It is pretty certain 
from the disparity in the sizes of the males and females that the former 
attain maturity at an earlier age than the latter, and the great excess 
of the ripe males in Aberdeen Bay probably indicates that a younger 
generation of them took part in reproduction, the females of correspond- 
ing age being still immature and thus not migrating out to spawn with 
the others, In any case, however, the excess of females, if there be 
excess, cannot be great, the small preponderance in the samples from 
the Solway being very much less than among other species producing 
pelagic eggs.t It is interesting to note that the flounder and the lesser 
weever are the two fishes with pelagic eggs in which the females do not 
greatly preponderate, or may be indeed less numerous than the males. 
Both spawn near shore in water of moderate depth, migrating from the 
shallower water to do so. The proportion of the sexes in the sprat, 
which also spawns inshore in summer, has not apparently been deter- 
mined, Among the weevers from the Solway in April, September, 
August, and November, the average size of the females was 107:2 mm. 
or 4} inches, and of the males 90°3 mm. or a little over 34 inches. 
The lesser weever seems to spawn later than the majority of fishes. 
Day says vaguely it spawns in spring; Brook gives April, May, and 
June as the period on the coast of Yorkshire,$ and he found those 
kept in his tanks spawned in June and July ;|| M‘Intosh states that 
the floating eggs are found in St. Andrews Bay in April, May, and 
June ;§ and Holt found a female “ nearly ripe” in May on the Irish 
coast, and the floating eggs in considerable abundance in June and 
* Tenth Ann. Rep., Pat IL., p, 289. 
+ Fishes of the Firth of Forth, p. 173. 
+ Fourth Ann. Rep. Loc. cit. 
§ Tenth Ann. Rep., Part IIL, p. 244. 
|| Journ. Linn. Soc., xviii., p. 274. 
q Ninth Ann. Rep., Part IITL., p. 326. 
