60 Brill, Range, Size, &c. 



men capture and take them into the Folkestone and Dover 

 markets. At Ramsgate also the deep-sea trawlers land con- 

 siderable sized ones in fair numbers. They are greedy fish- 

 eaters, but don't disdain the crab and lobster tribe. In the 

 North Sea they spawn from April to July, a few even in August, 

 and beginning of September. Opportunities for comparing the 

 period of those in our district have been wanting. It seems 

 feasible that their breeding-grounds may be near the Galloper 

 Sands or The Falls, likewise the Varne and Ridge shoals ? 



(12.) The BRILL (Rhombiis Icevis) figures as an ordinary 

 marketable product at our fisheries stations, Ramsgate, Dover 

 and Folkestone these being chiefly brought by the deep-sea 

 trawlers. Its range in the North Sea, and more immediately 

 IB-shore round our counties' coasts, nearly corresponds with that 

 of the turbot, neither being such a far northerly fish as the 

 halibut. Speaking in a general way, it is more often the 

 younger brill that ascend our estuaries, though in our wide, 

 comparatively shallow seaward bays, larger fish are not infre- 

 quent at a moderate distance from shore. It is mentioned as the 

 *' Pearl " (Rhombus), in the Sandgate list already cited.* Sale- 

 able brill are somewhat scarce within the present bounds of 

 the Leigh fishing quarters. Still one, said to be 18 or 20 

 inches long, was quite recently trawled between Sheppey and 

 the Nore Sand. The small ones, as the men say, " are got 

 anywhere." About 1885-6 (?) some 400 small live brill and soles 

 were captured for and transported in tanks to the New York 

 Aquarium by two of the Leigh fishermen (W. Little and G. 

 Gilson) . 



Confining our remarks to a few among others of those 

 coming under our immediate observation, we have had them in 

 November from 11 to 13 inches long. But the biggest we came 

 across measured 15 inches in length, fully half that broad, and 

 weighed 1 Ib. 10 oz. This was taken in a shrimper's trawl in 



* Large catches of Brill have at various times been made in Whitstable Bay, during 

 July, Aug. and Sept. ; but the last few years they, like other kinds of fish that used to 

 be plentiful, have become scarcer or absent. (Capt. Anderson.) 



