312 BRITISH FISHERIES 



same is to be said of experiments made by Garstang ^ 

 and by Cunningham,^ the former of whom reared 

 young blennies successfully, while the latter was 

 successful with flounders. But in these cases 

 also the experiments were not carried out success- 

 fully on the large or economic scale. Finally, 

 M. Fabre-Domergue ^ made a most encouraging 

 experiment with soles at Concarneau, on the coast 

 of France, and was able to rear a considerable 

 number of these fish through the critical stage 

 of metamorphosis. Unfortunately, the French 

 investigator did not experiment with large num- 

 bers, and we are unable to regard his work as a 

 satisfactory solution of the rearing problem. In 

 hatching operations we deal with numbers like ten 

 to two hundred millions of fry, and if rearing 

 operations are to be successful, we must be able 

 to deal with as large numbers, rearing, say, fifty 

 millions of plaice larvas through their metamor- 

 phosis, and with a loss corresponding to that 

 incurred in hatching, viz. little more than lo 

 per cent. Hitherto this has not been possible, and 

 there are few indications that it will become 

 practicable in the near future. 



In actual practice, then, the fry are liberated 

 within a few days after hatching, or, at the latest, 

 just before the yolk-sac has been completely absorbed. 



1 Journ. Mar. Biol. Ass., vol. vi. 1900, p. 70. 



^ /did., vol. iii. 1893-5, p. 206. 



' Comptes Rendus Acad. Franc, Section Sci., 6th May 1901. 



