12 
MIGRATION EXPERIMENTS. 
(a) INSHORE FLATFISH. 
In the vear 1903 certain of the fishes taken wlien trawling 
in the inshore waters were measured and after being labelled 
Avere returned to the sea. This aaujs done also when oppor- 
tunity offered in the folloAATng- yeai's ; and the results are now 
g’iA’en for all the experiments in the accompanying synoptical 
tables and charts. 
The fish marked and liberated included plaice, dab, 
flounder, turbot, sole, brill, catfish, and thornback. No 
records of recapture have been obtained for the last four 
mentioned, and this is probably due to the fact that only 13 
soles, I brill, I catfish, and 2 thornbacks Avere dealt Avith. 
Tables I to 4 sIioav on the left the numbei' marked and 
liberated at each experiment, together Avith the si/e of the 
largest and smallest and the mean size of the fish dealt Avith. 
To the right the tables are arranged to shoAv the period inter- 
vening betAA'een liberation and recapture, the distance 
traA’elled in this period, and the size of the fish recaptured; 
Avhilst further division sIioavs the same facts for males and 
females. As notification of recaptures has in some cases 
only been accompanied by the label it has been necessary to 
add another column to the tables for fish of unknoAvn sex. 
In considering the distance traA’elled before recapture it 
has been assumed that Avhere there is migration of OA^er 10 
miles the fish haA^e left the district and thus the tables give 
no idea as to the enormous amount of migration Avhich has 
taken place in some cases, and Avhich is probably best shoAvn 
by means of the charts. 
Table 5 is a summary of the previous tables and giA-es the 
total numbers of fish liberated and recaptured, the per- 
centage of recaptures, and facts relating to migration and 
size for the whole of those recaptured, and similarly for males 
and females. The fish of which the sex is unknown have not 
been in this case separately considered, but are included in 
the total number recaptured. 
The Charts 1 to 4 shoAv approximately the position Avhere 
the marked fish were recaptured. As many of these Avere 
taken in inshore Avaters not far from the place of liheration 
