NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. I43 



the county, if well looked for ; Dr. Laver has found it abundantly in a pond of 

 Donyland Heath. As pointed out in the above quoted note, the absence on 

 pigment on the throat affords a ready means of distinguishing M. palmata 

 from M. vulgaris, independently of the other and better known characters.— 

 William Cole, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 



PISCES. 



Blennius gattorugine in Essex. — In the Zoologist for June (4th ser., 

 vol. iii., p. 273), Mr. A. Patterson records the capture of this species at Great 

 Yarmouth, for the first time in East Anglian waters. It measured 4in. in length, 

 and the fish " was not at all highly coloured, as depicted by Couch, but was 

 of a dull tawny or yellow-brown, the edges of the fins being of a ruddy hue 

 Day speaks of it as being subject to variation, according to locality, and, no 

 doubt, on our sandy coast, such a stray fish would assume more sober tints 

 than in its native rocky habitat." At page 326 of the same volume, Mr. 

 E. A. Fitch reports that he has one caught in the Essex Blackwater, off 

 Stansgate, on .\ugust 19th, 1898, by Sampson Wright. He adds, "it is typical 

 with Day's figure and description, and measures 5 Jin. long. I have it pre- 

 served in 4 per cent, formalin, and it looks as fresh as when I had it alive." 

 The Editor of the Zoologist remarks on the above as follows : — " The 

 Gattorugine, known to fishermen in the West of England by the homely 

 appellation of Tompot (Couch) has been recorded from the north-east coast 

 included in SirCuthbert Sharp's List of Hartlepool Fishes;' cf. R. Howse, 

 ' Cat. Fishes of the Rivers and Coast of Northumberland and Durham,' p. 25. 

 It is reported as lying concealed in pools among long seaweeds, where it is 

 probably often overlooked.'' 



Angling in the Lea River half a century ago. — Mr. Francis Howse, 

 Hon. Secretary of the .\mwell Alagna Fishery, has kindly presented to our 

 library a copy of a pamphlet which he has prepared and printed for private 

 circulation, being a record of notable fish taken in this famous fishery by 

 members aud their friends between 1851 and 1871, and based upon a diary 

 kept by the late Robert Brown, the keeper. The fish mentioned are jack, 

 roach, trout, gudgeon, perch, carp, chub, tench, and rudd, the last three very 

 rartly. The Fish Editor of the Field has given the following analysis of the 

 record : — " The falling off in late years in the numbers and weight of jack is 

 attributed, to a great extent, to the smaller volume of water in the old Lea 

 River, caused partly by a more efficient system of land drainage, and partly by 

 the large quantity of water drawn off by the Companies. To these causes 

 must also be added the strenuous efforts made to reduce the pike in the New 

 River. It must be also remembered that, during the twenty years under 

 review, there were only fourteen members, and that for some years that 

 number has been increased to twenty-five." 



"The large and always specifically handsome trout of the Lea (as they 

 remain to this day) appear in the earliest of the records, not, of course, i 

 quantity, but at fairly frequent intervals. Mr. T. Howse, the well-remem- 

 bered father of the editor of this memorial, was one of the most successful 

 pike fishers from the fifties onwards. The best season for pike during the 

 twenty years covered by the entries was apparently that of 1860-1, when 95;^ 



