264 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



find that 613 plaice were liberated in the " winter " 

 months of 1904-5, and 217 were liberated during the 

 " summer " months. During the year 1905 about 

 72 per cent, of the fishes recovered were recaught within 

 territorial waters, and about 28 per cent, were caught 

 outside the territorial limits. Thus the result of these 

 experiments, in which nearly three times as many fishes 

 were liberated during the winter months as during the 

 summer, is that nearly three times as many fish were 

 caught within the territorial as without. On the other 

 hand, in 1905-6, 290 plaice and flounders were liberated 

 in the winter months and 354 plaice and flounders in the 

 summer months, and we find that in these experiments, 

 when the liberations during the two seasons were not far 

 from being equal in number, the number of fishes 

 recaught outside is very nearly equal to those recaught 

 inside the territorial waters. 



With regard to the size of the fishes recaught, these 

 have not so far been tabulated so as to bring out any 

 relation between depth of water and length of fish. It 

 will be better to let these observations accumulate, and 

 then make this analysis when quite a large number of 

 marked fishes have been recovered. Generally speaking, 

 fishes which at the time of marking and liberation were 

 the largest have travelled furthest. Large fishes have, 

 of course, more vitality, and it is undoubtedly the case 

 (with certain well-known exceptions) that the plaice 

 caught outside territorial waters are larger on the average 

 than those caught inside. But as regards the proportion 

 of fishes caught inside as compared with those caught 

 outside the technical territorial water limit, the main 

 factor is the opposing offshore and inshore migrations, 

 which depend more on the seasons than on the mere size 

 of the plaice. 



