BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 415 



very suitable for portfolios and book-bindiug. Raw materials now con- 

 sidered as almost worthless are thus utilized to great advantage by the 

 company. The Aberdeen factory covers an area of 39,200 square feet, 

 and includes a dining-room and restaurant (opened a few days ago), as 

 well as a drying chamber and drying machine, where the largest lisli 

 may be drie<^l in from 12 to 20 hours, giving a far better result than if 

 dried in the open air. Large factories are also in course of erection at 

 Barra (an island of the Hebrides) and Thorshavn (capital of the Faroe 

 Islands), each of which will employ 150 men all the year round. It is 

 proposed to establish restaurants in various populous places, w^here 

 dinners of rwo dishes, mostly produced from fish, can be had for two- 

 pence. [From the Fish Trades Gazette, London, England, February .5, 

 1887.] 



Fish conveyed inland by railways in Great Britain. — The 

 total quantity of fish conveyed inland by railways in the three coun- 

 tries of Great Britain during the past six years are summarized in tons 

 as follows: 



On the north and east coasts of England in 1885 more than 1,000 tonsof 

 fish were sent from 12 places, Grimsby taking the lead with66, 790 tons. 

 Nine i>orts on the south coast of England send over 1,000 tons by rail; 

 while on the west coast five ports send a similar amount. Thirteen rail- 

 way companies carry this total amount of fish inland, six of which are 

 carrying less fish in 1885 then they did in 1880, which maybe the effect of 

 the railway rates. The Scotch ports sending inland 1,000 tons or more 

 of fish in 1885 are 22 in number, Aberdeen leading the list with G,708; 

 while iu Ireland there is only one port that exceeds 1,000 tons, Kinsale 

 in 1885 sending 1,603 tons. [From the Journal of the National Fish 

 Culture Association, London, England, January 15, 1887.] 



Shad in California. — Mr. R. H. Buckingham, president of the Cali- 

 fornia fish commission, writing from Sacramento in Januarj^, 1887, states 

 that shad are taken in that State during every month of the year, while 

 but a few years ago none were to be found ; and it is thought that the 

 first was taken in April, 1879, in a gill-net, the weight of the fish being 

 five pounds. Now the whole California coast is well stocked with shad. 

 There is no State hatchery for this species here, but at the spawning 

 season great numbers of the breeding fish get into the swampy lakes 

 near Sacramento, where thousands of the young hatch and remain 

 there landlocked until the rise of water in autumn, when they find their 

 way to the river and thus go to the sea. 



