BATE OF GROWTH OF SOME SEA FISHES. 



245 



As far as I have been able to discover, young pilchards 13 to 16 

 cm. in length have not been taken in recent years in any consider- 

 able numbers on the coast of Devon or Cornwall. There is a 

 factory at Mevagissey where ordinary full-grown pilchards are 

 preserved in oil and tinned in the same manner as French sardines, 

 and Mr. Dunn, who has been for many years connected with this 

 factory, assured me, not only that no such small pilchards had ever 

 been prepared in the factory, but that a deliberate attempt had been 

 made to procure such fish and had not succeeded. A seine of the 

 kind used in the French sardine fishery was obtained from France 

 and several trials made with it, but, instead of half-grown pilchards 

 of the required size, only very young specimens 2 or 3 inches long 

 were captured. Nevertheless it would seem, from the facts here 

 recorded, that small pilchards in all respects similar to the French 

 sardines are to be taken on the English coast. 



It will be seen from the table that the young pilchards were most 

 plentiful in November, and scarce in December and January, and 

 that they were taken in considerable numbers in November from 

 the Mewstone to a distance of seven miles south of the Eddystone. 

 If there are any facts or considerations which serve to indicate 

 with more or less probability the age of these young fish, we obtain 

 some light on the question of the rate of growth of the pilchard. 

 In previous papers in this Journal I have shown that the spawning 

 period of the pilchard near Plymouth extends from June to October, 

 but the spawning takes place principally in June, July, August, and 

 September. Therefore the pilchards 13 to 16'5 cm. long in 



NEW SEKIES. VOL. II, NO. III. 



19 



