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SHA FISHERIES LABORATORY. 1s 
of shore-haunting Amphipoda on this coast, viz., Callio- 
pius leviusculus and Amathilla sabini is also interesting. 
SOLE AND SOLENETTE. 
One of the most important fisheries in this district is 
the Sole fishery, and this 1s probably one which might be 
considerably improved in the future by artificial fertiliza- 
tion and hatching. The Sole spawns in spring and early 
summer, and from our statistics in this neighbourhood I 
have selected the following as giving some idea of the 
erowth during the first year :— 
Aug., Horse Channel, 2 inches. 
Oct., Blackpool, Ribble and Hilbre, 23—4 in. 
Noy., Blackpool, Southport and Rock Channel, 3—4 in. 
Dec., Liverpool Bar, 34 in. 
April, Horse Channel and Crosby, 5 in. 
May, Crosby Channel, 6 in. 
According to the observations of Cunningham at Plymouth 
the young soles do not there pass the first year of their 
lives (8 to 12 months old) in the shallow waters, but 
somewhere outside the 10 fm. line; but all the localities 
which I have given above for young soles from 2 to 5 inches 
in length are in shallow water, being on an average about 
4 or 5 fms. Here, as elsewhere, we find the young soles in 
shallow water the following summer, when they are over 
a year old; but they probably do not become sexually 
mature until the end of the second year. ‘There is appar- 
ently considerable individual variation in size, but at the 
end of the first year the young soles are on an average 
about 5 or 6 inches in length, and at the end of the second 
year are about from 7—9 inches in length. 
Hvery sole ought if possible to be allowed to come to 
sexual maturity and spawn before being caught. It is 
most desirable, as has been suggested in various quarters 
