EXPEKIMENTS ON THE EELATIVE ABUNDANCE OE ANCHOVIES. 271 



been taken on board. The skipper's remark was that 'you could 

 have loaded a ship with them.' 



" Received twenty anchovies from another boat, fishing a little 

 further west.'' And again : 



" November 21st. Mayflower out fishing four miles west of Eddy- 

 stone. Took twenty anchovies large, .... using our nets. 

 Boats fishing pilchards closer inshore took anchovies in considerable 



numbers A boat fishing herring close to where our 



nets were shot took 100 anchovies." 



An interesting point is the enormous size of the anchovies on our 

 coasts. The following figures will sufiice to give an idea of the 

 large fish met with. It is the record of the catch in which our 

 largest anchovy was taken, and I am not aware that any anchovy 

 of such a size has ever been previously recorded. 



The largest was 8^ inches long and measured 3J inches in girth, 

 the other measurements are in inches. 



n 

 n 



71 

 61 



61 



71 

 7h 



7i 



The smallest anchovy captured was about the size of those usu- 

 ally found in bottles and tins of the retail dealer ; it measured a 

 trifle over 5 inches (S^^). The average size is 7j, yet in the pre- 

 vious year so many were brought to the Laboratory measuring only 

 5 or 5^ inches, that the average then must have been consider- 

 ably less. 



An interesting feature in the use of the small meshed nets was 

 the capture of small pilchards or sardines. Mr. Cunningham has 

 prepared a statement upon them which will be found in his paper 

 in this number, under the title Rate of Growth of some Sea Fishes 

 (Section The Pilchard, p. 244). 



In reading this account of our endeavours it must be borne in 

 mind that in a expanse of open sea like the English Channel, one 

 boat with one net runs a comparatively poor chance of meeting with 

 great success. Men fishing for herring or mackerel have the assist- 

 ance, it may be, of three or four hundred crews in enabling them to 

 find out where the fish are, and where they are not. We, on the 

 other hand, were looking for fish which no one else was looking for, 

 and had to grope in the dark. It appears, however, that November 

 is the month during which most anchovies will be found off the coast 

 of Devon and Cornwall, and as the autumn season arrives we shall 

 hope to try again with greater success. 



