A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



April 19th, 1893, was 17 inches long and 

 weighed 4J Ih.'—J. P. 



A previous capture of a smaller one on 

 Breydon is recorded in the Transactions (vol. 

 V. p. 324). 



APODES 



**II7. Eel. Anguil/a vulgaris, TuTton. 



Very common. Mr. Lubbock says that 

 one was caught near Norwich which weighed 

 upwards of 20 lb. 



' One taken in the Ouse at Denver Sluice, 

 October 22nd, 1867, was recorded in Land 

 and Water of the 28th of that month, by 

 E. A. Austin, Esq., Sydney Sussex College, 

 Cambridge. Its dimensions were — length, 5 

 feet 8 inches; girth, 17^ inches; weight, 

 36 lb.' {Fauna of Norfolk). 



An albino, with body of a creamy white, 

 the lips pink, the dorsal and anal fins tinted 

 with the same, coloured eyes, was taken in 

 the river Bure, June 6th, 1895. Since the 

 last report on the fishes Professor Grassi has 

 read his most interesting account of the ' Re- 

 production and Metamorphosis of the Eel ' at 

 the Royal Society, 1896. In his paper he 

 has proved that eels of all kinds breed only in 

 the sea at great depths, and he has shown 

 that leptocephalus in its various forms are 

 larval conditions of muroenoids, conger, an- 

 guilla, etc. 



118. Conger. Conger vulgaris, Cuv. 



Norfolk Estuary. Not uncommon. 



Yarmouth . — P. 



' One weighing nearly 50 lb. caught in 

 1808.'— Cromer, J. H. G. 



GANOIDS 



**ii9. Sturgeon. Jcipenser sturio, hinn. 



Frequently caught in the rivers and along 

 the coast, and chiefly, as Mr. Southwell has 

 remarked, in the winter and spring months. 



Sir T. Browne, with his usual accuracy, 

 notes the variation in form which occurs in 

 this species : ' Some have been taken at Yar- 

 mouth, and more in the Great Ouse, but 

 their heads are not so sharp as represented in 

 the icons of Rondeletius and Johnstonus.' 



Couch, speaking of the supposed two kinds 

 of sturgeon, says : ' The broad-headed and 

 narrow-snouted varieties in their extreme di- 

 vergence differ greatly, and the latter appears 

 to be the more numerous of the two ; but 

 there has been found every gradation of form 

 amongst them ' (vol. i. p. 159). 



The lord of the manor of Hunstanton 

 claims as a royalty all sturgeons caught in 

 Lynn waters, but this claim is not recognized 

 by the Lynn authorities. The largest speci- 

 mens of which I have any note are — one 

 caught off Yarmouth, October loth, 1871, 

 of which Mr. Southwell gives the following 

 measurements : length, 7 feet 10 inches ; 

 girth, 46 inches ; weight, 392 lb. ; and one 

 recorded by Mr. Gunn, in the Zoologist, 1866, 

 taken in Holkham Bay, was 8 feet 6 inches 

 long, and weighed 210 lb. The capture of 

 a sturgeon on a hook is a sufficiently rare 

 event to be worth recording. 



'On December 7th, 1894 [Zoologist, Dec. 

 loth, 1894), a beach fisherman caught one 

 6 feet 6 inches in length, having baited his 

 hook with a herring.' — yi. P. 



CHONDROPTERYGIANS 



120. Rough Hound or Small-spotted Dog- 



fish. Scyllium canicula, Linn. 

 Norfolk Estuary. Specimen in Lynn 

 Museum. 



Lowestoft. — y. H. G. 



121. Nurse Hound or Large-spotted Dog- 



fish. Scyllium stellare, Linn. 

 Norfolk Estuary. 

 Yarmouth. — P. 



Sherringham. — f. H. G. This specimen 

 is in the Norwich Museum. 



122. Basking Shark. Selache maxima, Linn. 

 Yarmouth. — P. The figure in Yarrell's 



work was taken from drawings of this speci- 



men, sent to Mr. Yarrell by Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney. 



Sir T. Browne says: 'This year (1662) 

 one was taken, entangled in the herring-nets, 

 about 9 feet in length, answering to the last 

 figure of Johnstonus (lib. vii.), under the 

 name of Carcharius alter, and was by the teeth 

 and five gills one kind of shark, particularly 

 remarkable in the vastness of the optic nerves 

 and three conical hard pillars which supported 

 the extraordinary elevated nose, which we have 

 reserved with the skull. The seamen call 

 this a scrape.' — Bohn's edition, vol. iii. p. 326. 

 Dr. Gilnther thinks this is probably the same 

 fish as that figured by Couch (vol. i. pi. 15), 



214 



