22 



continued day after day for about a week, and various persons, 

 hearing of the occurrence, came from Port Ehzabeth to procure 

 the fish for food. Nothing particularly striking as to the state 

 of the weather or sea was observed at the time. The occurrence 

 took place in 1886 and, speaking from memory (in 1904), the 

 lighthouse-keeper states that the kind of fish affected were 

 Kaapenaars {Dentex argyrozona), Dik-bekjes {Pagrus laniarius), 

 a shark of about ten feet in length and, what struck him most, 

 a large number of Papagaai-fish {Hoplegnathus conwayi). 



On further enquiry at Port Elizabeth, confirmation of the 

 occurrence was procured, and the lighthouse-keeper then 

 stationed at Cape Receife was good enough to furnish the 

 following entry from the log kept there : " i6th December, 

 1886. Large quantity of fish and sharks washed up on the 

 beach, mostly alive when washed up, but soon die. The fish 

 are of various kinds, but mostly Barbers and a fish with a 

 peculiar beak like a parrot." The two fish specially mentioned 

 are shallow-water forms, viz., Hoplegnathus and Galeichthys. 

 Dentex argyrozona is not a shallow-water form, but as it is 

 mentioned only from memory and after an interval of 18 years, 

 there may have been an error here. 



Another case is recorded from East London. On the 26th 

 September, 1903, a paragraph appeared in the Peninsula 

 Herald stating that " tons upon tons of dead fish have lately 

 been cast up upon the East London beach, varying in weight 

 from 3 to 60 lbs. each. The coast was strewn with them from 

 Christmas Vale to the Keiskama Mouth." 



Enquiries were at once sent to fishery offices, temperature 

 observers and others who might be in a position to confirm or 

 augment this report. 



Mr. Smith, Secretary of the Harbour Board, Durban, wrote : 

 " We heard of the strange occurrence to which you refer, but 

 as far as I am able to learn (and I have caused special enquiries 

 to be made), nothing of a like nature has been seen on our 

 coast. We have occasionally large numbers of Shad and 

 Salmon thrown up, but that is the work of the porpoises and 

 instead of being dead and limp and starved, they are very 

 much alive and make an acceptable addition to the fishmonger's 

 slab." The " Shad " of Durban is the " Elft " of Cape Town 

 {Temnodon saltator) and the " Salmon " is the " Geelbek " of 

 Cape Town {Otolithus aequidens). 



Mr. L. A. Munn, Harbour Master at East London, reported : 

 " The lowest surface temperatures recorded here during Sep- 

 tember were on the loth and nth respectively 50° and 51° ; 

 at about these dates a number of fish were noticed (by the men 

 in fishing boats outside) dazedly swimming about at the sur- 



