FISH ECONOMICS. 255 



Wales.* Though satisfactory enough with certain kinds of 

 fishes they are hardly applicable to fishes which contain a 

 good deal of oil, as this substance prevents or delays the 

 decomposition which is such a necessary part of the natural 

 conversion of the fish into a suitable form of material for 

 the nourishment of plant life. 



The Skins of Fishes are used for a variety of pur- 

 poses. In most species they are of a gelatinous nature, 

 and are easily soluble in water; but in some, they are of a 

 firmer, stronger and more useful character. Many of the 

 latter may be converted into leather, although their employ- 

 ment for practical purposes at the present time, is strictly 

 limited ; these products rather ranking amongst novelty or 

 fancy leathers. In Egypt fish-skin leather is made from 

 fishes of the Red Sea, being converted into soles for shoes. 

 Skins of the fish known as "Burbot" are used after being 

 simply stretched and dried in Russia and Siberia, to trim 

 dresses, and also instead of glass, for the windows of 

 peasants' dwellings, as it is as transparent as oiled paper. 

 Simmonds states that the inhabitants of the eastern coasts 

 of the middle of Asia, clothe themselves with the tanned 

 skins of Salmon ; which, it is asserted, make a very tough 

 leather, the scale-marks giving it a very neat pattern. In 

 America, successful experiments have resulted in the manu- 

 facture of good leather from the skins of Cod, disk, Salmon 

 and others, while shoes and gloves have been made from 

 those of the two first-mentioned. The skin of the Wolf-fish 

 (Anarrhichas) is specially adapted for leather-making and 

 quantities of it have been placed on the market. Eel skins 

 have been used for the thongs of whips, and the attachment 

 of flails ; and dried Sole skins for the purpose of clarifying 

 coffee ; while the skins of many Sharks and Rays, were used 

 largely in the "pre-sandpaper days" (and are still used to 

 a certain extent by workmen), for the purpose of smoothing 

 and polishing substances, and also to make a kind of 

 shagreen leather. The best shagreen leather (called Gain- 

 chat) is said to be made from the skin of the Sephen Sting- 



* Instances are known on the coast of New South Wales where sharks 

 have been cut up (after the liver had been removed) and buried in various 

 portions of orchards the flesh making an excellent fertilizer 



