H REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The Romans also used artificial baits ; and the art of making flies of 

 feathers and other materials has, perhaps, never been carried further 

 in our time even in England itself. Fishing by torch-light was a favor- 

 ite amusement, and several ancient authors describe this mode. 



There were peculiar methods of net-fishing, which we have only imi- 

 tated or somewhat developed. Hemp, flax, and Spanish reeds were used 

 for the manufacture of these nets, which were afterward tanned sev- 

 eral times in order to make them stronger. The fishermen set them 

 both along the coast and in the open sea. Drag-nets, which were first 

 used by the Greeks, served for inclosing the large schools of migratory 

 fish, and the stationary nets stopped them in their course. These latter 

 were very large, and were made of a kind of plaited work of Spanish 

 broom. Permanent nets of this kind were soon used at the mouth of the 

 Bosphorus, on the coasts of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, especially in the 

 Ligurian Sea, the Bay of Naples, the straits of Bonifacio and of Mes- 

 sina, at the entrance of the Adriatic, the straits of Cadiz, and along 

 the coasts of France and Spain. Strabo makes especial mention of the 

 large stationary nets on the coast of the island of Elba. 



The four hundred names of fish spoken of by Greek authors are given 

 in alphabetical order in the work of Aldrovandi, who, also, gives alpha- 

 betical lists of fish in Latin, Italian, French, German, and English. 

 Similar lists are found in Gesner, Artedi, and other authors. Those 

 who desire further information on this subject are referred to the works 

 of those ichthyologists. But to enable the reader to form some idea of 

 the numbers and kind of fish known in those times, the following list is 

 given, in which those groups and families are mentioned which were 

 most numerous in the Greek and Latin seas. Each of these groups, 

 therefore, comprises a considerable number of important species, to 

 enumerate which would lead us too far from our special theme. In this 

 list Lutken's system has been followed : 



FIRST ORDER. 



a. Tlie perch group. — Red mullets (Muuus) ; breams \Sparus); 

 scisenoids (Scicena umbra); and white mullets [Mugil)\ besides quite 

 a number of labroids (e. g., the parrot-fish, Scarus, and other simi- 

 lar fish.) 



b. The toad-fish group. — 1, gurnards (Trigla); 2, frog-fishes, e. g., the 

 angler (Lophius piscatorius) ; 3, gobies (Gobius); 4, blennies (Blennius); 

 the sea-wolf (Anarrhicas lupus); 5, codfishes (Gadus), and especially 

 the " Asellus;" 6, flounders (Pleuronectes); and among these the turbot 

 (Pleuronectes rhombus), plaice (Pleuronectes limanda), sole (Pleuronectes 

 solea,) <&c. 



Norway to France. Each of these kegs contains ahout 140 kilograms, making a total 

 of about 4,500,000 kilograms, or about 9,000,000 of pounds, valued at about 3,000,000 

 francs. Several owners of large fisheries have assured me that the buying of this roe 

 deprives them of half the profits of their sardine-fisheries. 



