284 
Part III — Tenth Annual Report 
It would appear that the spawning season of the turbot, as in many- 
other species, extends over a considerable period, and thus not only are the 
examples of the young at a given date necessarily of varying size, but the 
usual irregularity of growth in specimens of the same age has also to be 
taken into account. If we are right in supposing that the turbot occa- 
sionally spawns in May, it is clear that some examples at least have a con- 
siderable interval for growth before the end of July and the beginning of 
August. We lose sight of the small specimens, for the most part, until 
they appear in the inshore water as fishes about an inch in length at the 
end of July and beginning of August, when they are captured either at 
the tidal margins or at the surface in harbours and sandy bays. The fact 
that no smaller specimens are obtained previous to the appearance of such 
forms would indicate that they are immigrants, though it must be borne 
in mind that the larvae from the pelagic eggs carried shore wards are on 
the spot, and that they, for instance, may have sought the margins or the 
surface after being hatched in the bay itself. Those specimens measuring 
about an inch in length at the end of July and beginning of August may 
therefore have a period of three months or upwards since deposition of 
the ova took place. The growth is thus somewhat rapid after a length of 
10 mm. is reached, but not more rapid than what is to be expected in a 
fish having an adult so large as the turbot. Again, those ranging from 
41 to 62 mm. on the 7th September at the margin of low water have a 
period of about four months and upwards from the earliest deposition of 
the eggs, and there can now be no ambiguity about the species ; but there 
is great disparity in size, in the condition of the right eye, and the anterior 
margin of the dorsal fin. In all, however, the right eye is on the left 
side. Some are evidently considerably older than others, and have longer 
and thicker bodies. Day speaks of one 1\ inch long, captured on the 
20th August, in which the right eye was still ' in transit passing round 
4 the bones of the head ; ' but he does not give details as to the exact 
position of the eye, and in some the right eye is on the left before this 
length is reached. 
Those of 5 to 6 inches, procured in February and in April in seines 
and salmon stake-nets, would appear to be the young of the previous 
season, and therefore range from eight to ten months, and this agrees 
with the opinion advanced by Mr Cunningham. In St Andrews Bay the 
turbot of b\ to 6 inches, which are sometimes numerous in the stake- 
nets on the west sands in April and May, would appear to reach the 
length of 9-J to 10 inches or a little more in September, and thus would 
be fully a year old. The growth is therefore fairly rapid if these inter- 
pretations are correct. Unfortunately we have no absolute proof of the. 
rate of growth. 
3. On an Unknown Post-Larval Fish from Smith Bank. 
In the mid- water net on Smith Bank, 28th June 1889, a form (PI. XV. 
fig. 1) differing from anything hitherto observed was procured along 
with young gadoids, gurnards, and pleuronectids. It is distinguished by 
the great thickness of the body — the depth of which, moreover, is compara- 
tively moderate, by the character of the head, and the presence of 
branchiae projecting behind the opercula. It is not a very young fish, to 
judge from the thickness and firmness of the body and the condition of 
the branchiae, yet the embryonic tail is still present. The total length is 
9*5 mm., the greatest depth is about 3*8 mm. The vent is situated a little 
in advance of the median line of the body, which is speckled with minute 
blackish-brown points on the head and lateral regions, and by similar 
specks of pigment over the abdomen, the latter, however, having undergone 
considerable change, a change often seen in other forms after immersion in 
spirit, viz., a spreading out of the marginal pigment, while a black speck 
