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188 Part III. — Seventh Annual Report 



at the stations in the territorial waters only in June 1889. Most 

 of these were of very large size; none were ripe, the majority of the 

 largest specimens were spent, and a few of the latter and all the medium- 

 sized and small ones were more or less immature. It appears very 

 probable that many of these fish belonged to the shoals found in the 

 offshore grounds in January and February, and referred to below. Those 

 obtained in Aberdeen Bay and in Montrose Bay, in July 1888, and in 

 June 1889, were all immature, one alone being* recorded as spent in 

 Aberdeen Bay, and this was the largest specimen obtained. 



Offshore Waters. — The specimens examined on board the { Southesk ' 

 were obtained in January and February 1889. At the Smith Bank, 

 a well known fishing ground lying about 15 or 16 miles east of the 

 Ord of Caithness, where the depth of water averages about 20 fathoms, 

 and the bottom consists chiefly of sand and shells, a shoal of spawning 

 plaice was discovered by the 'Southesk' on January 21st. Seventeen 

 hauls of the trawl were made, the plaice being by far the most abundant 

 flat fish obtained, and varying in length from 14 to 27 inches. The 

 reproductive organs of all were nearly or fully mature. Of 100 specimens 

 examined seventy-one were fully mature or spawning, and twenty-eight 

 nearly mature (p. 219). Large numbers of fish eggs were obtained in 

 the tow-net, the majority belonging to the plaice. 



Captain Mackay, the master of the * Southesk/ states that at the be- 

 ginning of January spawning plaice were obtained in the inshore waters 

 in the Pentland Firth. Some specimens from the Pentland Firth were 

 examined at Montrose, on January 11th, by Mr Peter Jamieson, and 

 found ' about ripe ' or three-quarters ripe. 



In February, from the 19th to the 27th, a number of hauls were again 

 made at or in the vicinity of Smith Bank. Of the sixty-four plaice 

 examined sixty were quite mature, actively spawning or partially spent, 

 and four nearly mature. 



If the data obtained from these various sources are combined and 

 compared, the following conclusions seem warranted : — (1) plaice do not 

 spawn in the Firth of Forth or St Andrews Bay, and probably not in 

 Montrose Bay, Aberdeen Bay, Cruden Bay, or the territorial waters of 

 the Moray Firth ; (2) they spawn chiefly in January and February ; 

 (3) they congregate for spawning purposes in vast shoals in certain 

 portions of the offshore grounds on the East Coast, as at Smith Bank — 

 further, according to the statement of Captain Mackay, of the ' Southesk,' 

 they spawn in immense numbers in the territorial waters of the Pent- 

 land Firth, as at Sandside Bay. 



Lemon Sole (Pleuroneetes mieroeeplialus). 



The number of lemon soles examined was 617. Of these 334 were 

 obtained in the Firth of Forth, seventeen in St Andrews Bay, two in 

 Aberdeen Bay, seventeen at the Garland's stations in the Moray Firth, 

 and thirteen by the 'Southesk' at Smith Bank, in the Moray Firth; 

 while 101, examined at the University, were obtained 20 or 30 miles east 

 of May Island, and 133 were examined by fishery officers. 



Of the 334 caught in the Firth of Forth, only three were fully ripe, 

 at Station V., in June 1889. Two were found nearly mature in October. 

 From then to March all were immature. In March, three were nearly 

 mature near the mouth of the Firth. In June 1889, besides the three 

 ripe ones, eight were found 'nearly mature,' and four three-quarters 

 mature, nearly all of these being obtained near or at the mouth of the 



