CHAPTER III THE RATE OF GROWTH

with, therefore, the weight is increasing more rapidly than the cube of the length, and it follows that the length itself is increasing less rapidly than some other linear dimension; while in later life this condition is reversed. The maximum is reached when the length of the fish is somewhere near to 30 cm., and it is tempting to suppose that with this 〜point of inflection〝 there is associated some well-marked epoch in the fish〙s life. As a matter of fact, the size of 30 cm. is apôÙproxôÙiôÙmateôÙly that at which sexual maturity may be said to begin, or is at least near enough to suggest a close connection between the two phenomena. The first step towards further inôÙvesôÙtiôÙgaôÙtion of the {100} apparent coincidence would be to determine the coefficient k of the two sexes separately, and to discover whether or not the point of inflection is reached (or sexual maturity is reached) at a smaller size in the male than in the female plaice; but the material for this