of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



71 



July ;* while Williamson procured the eggs in small numbers in 

 Loch Fyne on 14th May, 9th and 10th June, and 6th July, but found 

 none in April.f Ripe females have been procured by myself at the 

 end of June at Dunbar, and, as above described, in Aberdeen Bay at 

 the beginning and end of July. A female, 102 mm. in length, was 

 approaching ripeness on 18th June, in the Dornoch Firth, the ovarian 

 eggs measuring 0*5 mm. In the Solway, on 24th May, females of 

 94, 95, 98, and 117 mm. were approaching ripeness, and males from 

 82 mm. to 102 mm. were in a similar condition. It is thus probable 

 that the spawning takes place mostly in June and July. The 

 occurrence of floating eggs in our waters in April is probably 

 exceptional. 



Information bearing upon the rate of growth of the lesser weever is 

 not extensive. Brook found that hatching occurred in from nine to 

 eleven days. A specimen measuring 15 mm. was taken by the 

 " Garland " probably in autumn, J but the date is uncertain. On 18th 

 June an example, 33 mm. (l]j^ inches) in length, was taken in the 

 Dornoch Firth by the " Garland," and M'Intosh mentions another 

 measuring 45 mm. (1| inches) caught in July. These specimens were 

 doubtless about one year old. The next smallest which has come under 

 my observation was a female that measured 63 mm. (2| inches), and 

 was taken in the Solway on 30th April. It is fairly certain, I think, 

 that this was not a fish of the preceding year, but was approaching two 

 years of age. Apart from various other considerations, the fact that 

 the lesser weever does not reach the same size in the Solway as on the 

 East Coast — a circumstance, as I have elsewhere shown, which is also 

 true of the plaice and the common dab, and in the Clyde of the long 

 rough dab§ — while the smaller specimens were got later on the East 

 Coast, goes against the supposition. The specimens next in size from 

 the Solway were a female measuring 71 mm. on 21st September, one 

 measuring 74 mm. on 30th April, and two males on 26th October, one 

 measuring 70 mm. and the other 72 mm. As already stated, no ripe 

 individuals were procured from the Solway, but on 24th April the female 

 of 63 mm. (2| inches) alluded to above had eggs a few of which 

 measured O'll mm. ; another, of 74 mm., had eggs up to 0-13 mm. ; one 

 of 106 mm., eggs up to 0*13 mm. ; while in one of 113 mm. and one of 

 112 mm., the largest eggs measured 015 mm. On 24th May, in a 

 female of 117 mm., the eggs measured 0*33 mm., and in one of 98 

 mm. nearly the same ; two of 94 and 95 mm. were approaching ripe- 

 ness. It is therefore probable that these individuals would have 

 spawned in the ensuing season, when some of them would be under or 

 little over 80 mm. in length. 



In Aberdeen Bay, as stated above, the smallest ripe female measured 

 110 mm., and the smallest ripe male 91 mm. 



I give below a Table in which the specimens obtained at different 

 times are grouped in three-millimetre groups. The difference in size 

 between the Aberdeen Bay and Solway Firth is obvious, and in 

 several instances at least three annual groups appear to be represented. 

 While it is not possible to fix definite limits to the various series, the 

 probability is that the males reach maturity when two and the females 

 when three years of age : — 



* Rep. nfCwcncil, Roy. Duhl. Soc, for 1891, p. 246 ; Sci. Trans. Roy. Dull. Snc, iv. 

 ser. ii., p. 437. 



f Seventeenth Ann, Rep., Fari AV., p. 83. 

 X Ninth. Ann, Rep., Part III., p. 325. 

 § Twentieth Ann. Rep., Part III., pp. 346, 371, 385. 



