MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 35 



over an inch in length. There seems to be abundance of 

 food, both animal and vegetable, in the water of the pond ; 

 and Copepoda have been seen in the stomachs of the young 

 fish. 



Finally, in setting free the hatched larvae, we have 

 been careful to place them in the water well off the land, 

 in a tidal current running clear of the island, so that they 

 should be carried to regions where we find the naturally 

 hatched fish in similar stages, and from which they will 

 find their way gradually, after metamorphosis, into the 

 shore, and appear in due course as young plaice in the 

 shallow waters of our sandy bays. 



Since the above was written the young plaice being 

 reared in the pond were seen from time to time throughout 

 the summer, generally lying on the bottom at the shallow 

 end, and darting away very actively when the water was 

 disturbed. At the end of September we decided to run 

 nearly all the water out of the pond and examine the 

 contents for the three-fold purpose of (1) seeing the 

 condition of the bottom; (2) of finding out the exact 

 number and state of our stock of adult fish; and (3) of 

 observing the size attained in a known period by these 

 young plaice. This interesting piece of work, which 

 occupied the greater part of a week, was undertaken 

 during the 26th to 30th of September, with the following 

 result : — 



Out of 180 adult plaice which had been added to the 

 pond at various times since the previous autumn (1903), 

 168 were successfully transferred to the lower and larger 

 sea-water supply tank behind the Hatchery. The condition 

 of these fish was all that could be desired; they were 

 strong and well fed ; many were very large. There was 

 evidence (bones) of the death, of three fish in all, and five 

 others were found suffering from abrasions of the skin or 



