THE GERMON. 15 



specimens have been taken in Mount's Bay by fisher- 

 men who have spread their seines for Mackerel. One 

 of them in the year 1846, whereof the published figure is 

 quoted above, and the other, which was captured several 

 years previously, was then deposited in the Penzance 

 Museum of Natural History. 



This fish ought to interest Englishmen peculiarly, 

 since its appellation of Germon, by w r hich it was first made 

 known to science, is supposed to be a corruption of the 

 word War-man, in use at the lie d'Yeu, when the Eng- 

 lish were masters of Guienne and Poitou. The Basques 

 name it hegalalonchia, which signifies long-winged, and the 

 French mariners also, with reference to the length of its 

 pectorals, callitlong-oreille (long-ear). Cuvier had not the 

 means of comparing Mediterranean with Atlantic speci- 

 mens of this fish ; their identity, therefore, rests on the 

 accuracy of the details given in books. His description 

 was drawn up from a specimen procured from Rochelle, 

 and ought to accord with the British fish. 



M. Noel de la Moriniere has given the best account 

 of the fisheries of the Germon on the French Atlantic 

 coasts. The fishermen of He d'Yeu begin the fishery in 

 the south of the Bay of Biscay opposite St. Sebastians, 

 follow the fish in their movements to the north of 

 Belleisle ; and the numbers they capture in a season 

 average 13,000 or 14,000. They use lines of eighty 

 fathoms in length, and bait their hooks with salted eel, 

 but the Germon being very voracious, a piece of white 

 or blue cloth or some shining piece of earthenware, or 

 tin cut into the form of a Pilchard, often serves the pur- 

 pose. 



The Germons arrive in the Bay of Biscay in numerous 

 bands about the middle of June, sometimes a few come 

 as early as May, and they continue to be met with as 



