of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



47 



fathoms, ninety-seven miles north-east of Buchan Ness, but in the 

 nineteen hauls near Fair Isle in October, in sixty-five fathoms, 179 

 were taken, twenty-six being unmarketable. In May, to the east of the 

 northern part of the Shetlands, in two drags in seventy-five and 

 seventy-eight fathoms, one was obtained which was unmarketable ; and 

 in the haul in eighty-five fathoms, twenty-two miles east of Flugga, 

 another was taken, too small to be marketable, as well as two 113 and 

 117 mm., in the small-meshed net. They were caught also further 

 south oflf Sumburgh Head in sixty-five fathoms, where four hauls in 

 May furnished seven, and six in September five, two of which were 

 unmarketable. Seven hauls in sixty-nine fathoms about fifty to 

 seventy miles oflT the northern coast of Aberdeen yielded only one ; 

 and ten hauls in from fifty-eight to seventy-eight fathoms, in May, 

 east and south-east of Sumburgh Head, furnished ten, one being un- 

 marketable. Twelve were obtained in the nine hauls on the Fisher 

 Bank at the beginning of June, one being unmarketable. The 

 largest taken in the deep water was 45*4 cm. (17| inches); many 

 measured from fifteen inches up to these ; few were under twelve 

 inches, and the five smallest were 174, 180, 189, 192, and 105 mm. 

 (or above 6f inches). 



Vei'y small lemon dabs are very rarely taken. Holt has described in- 

 completely metamorphosed specimens about an inch in length, taken in 

 a shrimp trawl at depths of sixty-two and eighty fathoms, in August, 

 oflf the south-west coast of Ireland ; and later he found specimens from 

 a length of two to about four inches in the estuary of the Humber.* 

 I have also described specimens of two inches from twenty fathoms of 

 water ,t and Cuningham found a very large number of young lemon 

 dabs on the Essex coast in June in from two to five fathoms, measuring 

 from three to five inches. + In the course of the investigations with the 

 small-meshed net on board trawlers no large haul of young lemon dabs 

 was obtained, and indeed few that were very small were secured. 

 Moreover it appears, as already stated, that the smaller forms are 

 found scattered about like the adults. In many cases none were 

 obtained in the fine-net, and usually when present only from one or 

 two to half a dozen. 



In Aberdeen Bay one taken in July measured 183 mm. (71 inches) ; 

 in August, of five, the smallest was 126 mm. (5 inches), and the largest 

 175 mm.; in September three measured 112 mm. (4| inches), 134 and 

 187 mm.; in November in one haul two measured 114 and 176 mm., 

 and in another haul on the 9th in nine fathoms, one 91 mm. (3| inches) 

 was obtained. In December in several hauls a few were got, the 

 smallest measuring 137 and 148 mm. At the "Dog Hole," in deeper 

 water, small lemon dabs were occasionally taken, but often there were 

 none. In August, when 118 were taken altogether in both nets in 

 fifty-eight fathoms, the smallest measured 107 mm. (4| inches), the 

 next of the seventeen got in the fine-net being 109, 113, 117, 118, 

 122 mm., &c. On 30th July three were taken of 114, 118, and 

 131 mm. In the deep hole oflf Kinnaird He^id, about eighty-five 

 fathoms, one was secured which measured 143 mm. On the north- 

 eastern grounds, the two got in eighty-five fathoms in May, east of 

 the Shetlands, measured 113 and 117 mm. Some got by the "Garland" 

 in the Moray Firth, Firth of Forth, and Clyde were smaller. In May 

 in the Forth, in eight to ten fathoms, specimens of 104 mm. (4-i- 

 inches) the next being 118 and 119 mm.; in August the smallest 



* Journ. Mar. Biol, ^.v.soc, iii., p. 399 ; 1885. 

 t Eighth Ann. Report, Part III., p. 168 ; 1889. 



X The Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, p. 241. 



