118 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
There is an impression among some fishermen who have 
noticed that S. dwtea is a distinct fish from 8S. vulgaris, 
that the scales in the former are much larger and rougher 
than in the latter. This is only true if soles and solen- 
ettes of the sane size are compared together. We have 
examined the scales carefully in the laboratory, and draw- 
ings of their appearance under the microscope will be found 
on Pl]. IV. Figure 1 shows the scale of the adult solenette, 
_ and fig. 2, the scale of a sole Gmmature) of the same size; 
while fig. 8, shows the scale of an adult sole. It is evident 
then that if you compare adult sole (fig 3) with adult 
solenette (fig. 1) the former has a scale considerably larger 
than that of the latter, but if you compare the half grown 
sole with the adult solenette then the latter has the larger 
scale. These figures show also the more numerous radi7 
ating spines on the posterior border of the scale of the 
solenette, referred to above. 
The important question now arises—Does the solenette 
compete with the sole in the struggle for existence, and 
may we not be benefitting the sole and improving the 
sole fishery by killing off large numbers of the solenettes? 
The first thing to determine clearly is, are the two species 
ever found together on the same ground ?: There is no doubt 
from the trawlings carried on by Mr. Dawson and the 
bailiffs that they are. On July 27th, in the Horse Channel, 
near Liverpool, 68 soles were taken along with 240 sol- 
enettes; on July 15th in the Ribble Gut 12 soles were 
taken along with 435 solenettes; on August 23rd in the 
Horse Channel 71 soles were taken along with 110 sol- 
enettes; on August 13th, same locality, 134 soles with 
250 solenettes; on August 12th, in Welshman’s Gut, 38 
soles with 9 solenettes; and on Sept. 5th, at mouth of 
Ribble, 9 soles with 135 solenettes. Hach of these cases 
is one haul, anda large number of other similar cases 
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