Or 
of the Fishery Board for Scotland. ha 
PLAICE RECEIVED FROM ABERDEEN, Aprit 1, 1905, sND COLLECTED 
JUST BEFORE THAT DATE. 
MALE, 
(2) 15*1em., immature.—Otolith shows two zones, the third of the 
current year may have begun, but shows no distinct contrast with the 
second zone. The scales also show two zones, but not so easily dis- 
tinguished. 
FEMALES. 
(1) 12cm. long, immature.—Only one zone, or central area ; fish, 
therefore, one year old (fig. 9, pl. vii.). 
(2) 14em., immature.—Otolith shows only one undivided area, may be 
considered one yearold. Scales also show no division into zones. 
(3) 15em., immature.—Two distinct zones in otolith, outer zone 
sharply defined from central region, indicating two years’ growth. 
(4) 15em., immature.—Two distinct zones in otolith; the central 
region is much smaller than the whole otolith of (2), and does not show 
distinct lamination as that does. The calcified cartilage of the coracoid 
also shows two zones, but the boundary line is rather faint. 
(5) 16°7em., tmmature.—Otolith with central region and one outer zone 
separated by distinct boundary line. On the outer border there are a few 
opaque layers, which may be the commencement of this year’s deposit, 
but they are not defined by a distinct boundary from the second zone. 
(6) 20-7em., immature.—Otolith shows four distinct zones, It seems 
difficult to believe that this fish, not quite 84 inches long, and quite 
immature, should be really four years old, in which case it would be 
at least five years of age before it spawned for the first time. 
(7) Plaice, 22:9em., immature.—Only one distinct boundary, with very 
dark and opaque layers outside it. Several fainter lines in the central 
area, but, these I regard as all occurring in the first year’s growth. 
With the exception of (7), (2), and (6), therefore, all these specimens 
were two years old and at the commencement of their third year. 
LarGerR PuLaIce, CAUGHT 21 miLEs 8.S.E. or ABERDEEN, ABOUT 
Marcu 8, 1905. 
MALE, 
(1) 26-7em., immature.—Testes a mere narrow band along the anterior 
interspinous bone at posterior border of body cavity. Otolith shows 
three complete zones, with no distinct indication of the beginning of the 
fourth. May be taken to be three years old. 
FEMALES. 
* (1) 29em. long, inmature.—Five distinct zones in otolith. It would 
appear, therefore, that this fish would be at the end of its sixth year when 
it began to spawn. 
(2) 34:7cem., immature.— Ovary very small, without yolked eggs. Four 
complete zones in otolith, last one scarcely as wide as the others, but still 
too wide to be considered the deposit of the season now commencing. 
(3) 37-5em., immature.—Otolith shows five distinct zones, including, 
of course, the central area, The fish, therefore, five years old. The fifth 
zone is not quite so wide as the fourth. In the scales also five zones can 
be distinguished, but not so certainly or clearly as in the otoliths. 
