Plaice, Food, &c. ; Smear-Dab. 45 



with uncertainty, inasmuch as they are rarely got in advanced 

 condition ; the breeding fish doubtless taking seawards to the 

 sandbanks, now seldom visited by the Leighmen. It is said, 

 however, that during the early spring months plaice full of 

 roe are occasionally captured in the kettle-nets on the Foulness 

 shores. Such medium sized fish as have been examined by us 

 at the end and beginning of the year have either had the ovary 

 very imperfectly, or only moderately, developed. The puzzling 

 subject of the presence of the small plaice in fewer or greater 

 numbers almost throughout the year has given rise to con- 

 siderable discussion.* Some would limit the spawning season 

 to winter and spring months, others regard its being carried on 

 to the autumn months, still others are inclined to put emphasis 

 on temporary slow growth of some of the brood. So far as the 

 Thames Estuary is concerned, we are hardly in position to offer 

 a solution of the knotty point therefore leave it sub judice. 



With regard to the localities in the Thames Estuary, where 

 the plaice are found in most abundance, and other matters, see 

 under Fish-Trawling, Sect. VI. As to their food, we have 

 examined quite a large number from 2J to 8 inches long and 

 over. The younger fishes' stomachs contained, as far as recog- 

 nisable, remains of minute crustaceans (=Isopods, Copepods, 

 and Amphipods), Nereid, or rag- worms, and only a few Mollusca. 

 The older plaice, however, besides crustaceans, and exceptionally 

 even tiny fish debris, more distinctly shewed preference for 

 lob- worms and shell-fish (cockles, Tellina, Mactra, &c.), with 

 occasionally sand intermixed. Shell-fish are, indeed, the choice 

 staple food of the adults. 



Plaice are chiefly captured in the trawl, though they are 

 also got by the Peter-net, banding, spruling, and at certain 

 seasons parties of London amateur fishers use rod and line 

 (Sect. VI., Spruling, &c,). 



(3.) The SMEAR- DAB (P. microcephalus) is by no means 

 a rare fish with us, though not nearly so plentiful as those 



* Consult Masterman and Kyle, 15th and 16th Ann. Rep. F.B.S. ; also Cunning- 

 ham Jour. Mar. Biol. Assoc., and Vol. Brie. Mar. Fishes, &c. 



