THE FLAT-FISH FAMILY 237 



female measured 17 inches, the largest male 16 inches. On the 

 west coast of Ireland the greatest length observed was 15 inches. 



iVa7/ies. — On the east coast of England and Scotland, this fish 

 is commonly known to fishermen and fish merchants as the 

 lemon sole. At Plymouth it is always called the merry sole, 

 which seems to be a corruption of Mary sole, but what was the 

 original reference to the Virgin Mary, which seems to be implied 

 by the latter name, we do not know. In some parts of Ireland 

 it goes b}' the name of slippery dab, which is very appropriate. 

 Varrell called it lemon dab or smear dab. It has also been called 

 smooth dab, and, in Edinburgh, sand-fleuk. Since it has no 

 right to claim near kinship with the aristocratic sole, lemon dab 

 is the best name to use for it. 



Habitat. — This fish is a northern species, absent from the 

 Mediterranean, but distributed from the Bay of Biscay to Iceland 

 and the north coast of Europe. Adults were not found on the 

 west coast of Ireland at greater depths than 40 fathoms, but 

 the young were found at 80 fathoms, and Dr. Gijnther has 

 recorded adult specimens from depths of 40 to 60 fathoms, on 

 the north-west coast of Scotland. In his remarks on the trawl 

 fishing off the south coast of Iceland in 1892, Mr. Holt states 

 that lemon dabs were very scarce. Off the east coast of Scot- 

 land, the)- are fairly abundant. According to Professor 

 Mcintosh's observations for the Beam-Trawling Commission in 

 1884, these fish were plentiful on Smith's Bank, off Caithness (18 to 

 20 fathoms), in Aberdeen Bay, off the Isle of May and St. Abb's 

 Head. In the North Sea, south of the latitude of St. Abb's 

 Head, lemon dabs are fairly abundant, and on the Channel 

 trawling grounds they form a considerable as well as valuable 

 part of the catch. Off the west coast of England they are fairly 

 common. On all these coasts they are usually more plentiful on 

 the deeper grounds some distance from the land, at depths 

 between 20 and 40 fathoms. 



Time and Place of Spazuuiiig. — In the North Sea Mr. Holt 

 found that lemon dabs were spawning from the latter part of 

 April to the early part of September, nearly five months of the 

 year altogether. He found no spent fish until the latter part of 

 August. The ova of each single female are shed in successive 

 lots, the production of which occurs at intervals. Further 

 north ripe females were observed by the author east of May 



