250 EATE OF GEOWTH 07 SOME SEA FISHES. 



characters of the fishery for the summer season are thus described : 

 the fish appeared first at the south at Sables d^Olonne (May 9th), 

 and then progressively at more northern centres^ arriving at 

 Douarnenez on June 10th. Similarly, the fishery terminated first 

 in the south on October 10th, continuing in the north a month 

 later. The dimensions of the fish were remarkably uniform, the 

 diminution in size usually observed about July not having occurred 

 in 1888. On the other hand, a slight increase in the average size, 

 quite sensible and general, was observable from the commencement 

 to the termination of the fishery. A peculiarity of the year was the 

 absence of fish from the 1st to the 20th of July. Pouchet points 

 out that the observations on individual sardines made in the 

 Laboratory prove that the sardine de rogue is a young fish which has 

 never spawned, nearly mature ovaries being found only in the 

 sardine de derive. He adds that unfortunately the incessant 

 displacement of the sardine de rogue, and its final disappearance in 

 autumn, deprive us of the principal elements necessary to approach 

 the interesting problem of its rate of growth, and of the age of 

 those which visit the French coast in summer. With this opinion 

 I am unable to agree ; it seems to me that although we cannot 

 actually observe the increase in size in given individuals, or even a 

 given shoal, yet since we know pretty accurately the extent of the 

 spawning period, we can judge with sufiicient certainty from which 

 spawning season fish of a particular size taken at a particular period 

 of the year are derived. 



Neither in the Report for 1888 nor in that for 1887 are there 

 any actual observations as to the range of size of the fish caught 

 on particular days throughout the season, but only, as I have 

 already mentioned, measurements of two or three specimens made 

 several times a month. There is not even anything to indicate 

 whether the individual fish selected represented the minimum, maxi- 

 mum, or average size of the fish caught. In this Report for 1888 

 a substitute is presented for the data to the absence of which I refer, 

 namely, the records obtained by a sardine-curer of the average size 

 of the fish used in each week, expressed by the number of fish 

 required to fill a box of a certain size known in the trade as the 

 hoite d'lin quart, and measuring 12 x 10x2 cm. These records ex- 

 tend over several years, and include several different fishing stations. 

 In these tables the highest figures represent the smallest fish, because 

 of course the smaller the fish the larger the number required to 

 fill a box whose size is fixed. The actual size represented by the 

 figures is not easy to ascertain with any certainty, but some approxi- 

 mation to it may be made by means of relations given by Pouchet.* 

 * Thus the weight of fish iu a box is 123 grammes; this amount of fish when fresh 



