REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH OF THE PILCHARD. l55 



great perivitelline space was formed. These eggs measured 1-2, 1-36, 

 1*45 mm. in diameter, that is, the perivitelline space was not quite so 

 large as in fertilised eggs, but this is not surprising. The experiment 

 proves conclusively that the ripe eggs of the pilchard, when pressed 

 from the parent fish immediately it is captured, do actually float in 

 sea water, become transparent, and develop a large perivitelline 

 space. 



Professor Pouchet makes an appeal to his Government to provide 

 a suitable ship in order to discover where the sardine passes its 

 existence when away from the coast, and reproduces its kind. He 

 thinks the objects of the search would be found within 200 or 300 

 miles from the shore. He rejects the results of Marion's observa- 

 tions at Marseilles, because what is true for the sardine of the 

 Mediterranean does not apply to the oceanic sardine. But, as Marion 

 points out, the mode of reproduction of the sardine has been made 

 known at Plymouth, and the conditions cannot be so very different 

 a few miles off at Concarneau. 



2. Growth. — The sardine of the Mediterranean is not so large as 

 our pilchard or the sardine of the west coast of France — the oceanic 

 sardine, as Pouchet aptly calls it. At Marseilles the adult sardines 

 are 15 cm. to 18 cm. in length, or 6 to 7i inches. Pouchet finds 

 that the sardines de derive attain a maximum of 25 cm. or even a 

 little more, that is they are from 9| to 10 inches long. The ripe 

 spawning pilchards which I obtained this summer did not vary much 

 from 24 cm. or 9^ inches. 



At Marseilles and Nice the alevins or fry of the sardine are 

 captured for the market, as whitebait, the fry of the herring and 

 sprat, are in England. The sardines remain and are captured in the 

 Gulf of Marseilles during the whole of the first year of their life, and 

 Marion finds from examination of specimens at various times of the 

 year that they increase in length 1 cm. per month. The fishermen 

 of Nice give special names to the successive stages in the development 

 of the sardine, thus the young fish from 2 to 4 centimetres long with- 

 out the silvery layer in the skin are called poutino nudo, while at 

 a little larger size, 4 to 5 centimetres, when they have acquired the 

 silvery livery they are called poutino vestido. When still larger 

 they are called Falailla and Sardinettes. Marion concludes that 

 poutines which are 3 or 4 cm. long (1*2 — 1'6 in.) in March grow to 

 a length of 12 or 13 cm. (4-7 — 5-1 in.) by the following December. 

 These fish were spawned in February, and by the following February 

 according to Marion they are 14 or 15 cm. long, and therefore, it 

 would be supposed, ready to spawn themselves. Professor Marion 

 does not express any opinion on this point, but it would certainly 

 appear from his conclusions as to the rate of growth that the 



