COMMITTEE B — FEBRUARY 1906 (22) 
of otoliths from the large plaice of the Finmark coast, and he would be happy to 
place this material at the disposal of the Committee if desired. 
Prof. Hemwexe stated that they had examined the otoliths of about 6,000 
plaice at Heligoland, and a report upon the investigation was now in the press. 
A general collation of results from ail parts was of particular importance in view 
of the racial differences between the plaice of the northern and southern parts of 
the North Sea. The actual stock of fish on a given ground could not be determined 
by the employment of any one type of net. On this account special attention 
was being paid at Heligoland to the simultaneous investigation of a small and 
exactly defined area by means of a great variety of bottom nets of different sizes. 
Dr. Petersen said that in Denmark they had examined the otoliths of several 
thousand plaice, and the resoults would be communicated as soon as possible. 
Dr. Trysom offered to place the Swedish material from the Cattegat at the 
immediate disposal of the Convener. 
Dr. Reprxe stated that the Dutch material had been partly worked out in 
connection with investigations on the racial peculiarities of the plaice. He hoped 
that the members of the Committee would be able to collect data for the statistical 
study of the variability of plaice in different parts of the North Sea. 
Dr. Kyze thought that the otolith results derived from the special experiments 
mentioned by Prof. Hrincxe belonged to the Bureau rather than to Committee B, 
since they would not be comparable with results obtained by means of the 
commercial trawl, to which he understood that Dr. Garstane’s experiments were 
restricted. He reminded the meeting that the Bureau had also to deal with the 
distribution of the plaice. The method of investigation was different, however, as 
the Bureau’s work was based on the large statistical material obtained from 
commercial trawlers, supplemented by special nets-experiments as arranged for at 
the previous meeting of Committee B at Amsterdam. 
Dr.-Garstang replied that the Committee was appointed to investigate “The 
Natural History of the Plaice”, and was by no means limited to a discussion of 
results obtained by the commercial trawl. A considerable part of the English 
material for this purpose had been collected with fine-meshed nets. If Dr. Kyze’s 
suggestion was pressed, it would be necessary to submit the matter to the Council 
for decision. 
OS FO NN ON, 
