March 21, 1889] 



NA TURE 



499 



■excessive beam -trawling in the in-shore waters has formed the 

 subject of several Parliamentary inquiries ; but from want of 

 trustwdrthy statistics or scientific evidence the conclusions 

 arrived at have not always been in agreement. The result of 

 the 6*ar/rt«(/ experiments and the statistics collected shows that 

 in those areas where trawling is prohibited, the fish, especially 

 the flat-fish, have largely increased and the number of young 

 lish is greater than formerly. The results of the Garland's 

 investigations as to the distribution of edible fishes, their 

 numerical variations at different seasons, and the proportional 

 abundance of young and adults are also given, and the scientific 

 st.itistics collected are discussed in detail. It is evident that by 

 the systematic collection of scientific statistics regarding the 

 productiveness of the fisheries and the relative influence of 

 special modes of fishing, the migration, the spawning processes, 

 and the general life-history of the fishes themselves, a great deal 

 will be accomplished for the promotion of the fishery industries 

 of Scotland. In this connection it will be seen that the inves- 

 tigations carried on by the Garland are calculated to have a 

 high value, since the data thus collected are wide in their scope, 

 systematic, and tnistworthy. Without the use of a vessel specially 

 adapted for the purpose such investigations would be impossible. 

 Section B contains the biological investigations. The paper 

 on " The Scottish Lobster Fishery," by Prof. Ewart and T. 

 Wemyss Fulton, M. B., discusses at due length the interesting 

 question as to the best means of restoring this fishery to its old 

 place in our seas and in our markets. Slowly but surely lobsters 

 have been diminishing in size and number and rising in price ; 

 and our once famous home lobster market has to be supple- 

 mented by supplanting foreign supplies, simply because Scotch 

 lobsters cannot be got in sufficient numbers -of a marketable 

 size. The older and most valuable lobsters have been cleared 

 out, and the less mature forms are being drawn upon. Unfor- 

 tunately also, the female lobster being much more valuable for 

 cooking purposes, the " coral " is sometimes collected alone, 

 and so, by the systematic destruction of its ova, the lobster is 

 seriously handicapped in the struggle for existence. The use of 

 "creels" or "pots," instead of the older-fashioned "rings," 

 has been also an important factor in bringing about the " over- 

 fishing." The legislation of lobster-fisheries is a very difficult 

 matter, and in Canada, where the restrictions are very severe, 

 they have failed in their aim. It is impossible to set one fixed 

 close-time all over Scotland, as there is no general agreement 

 among fishermen as to which time would be most serviceable. The 

 institution of a minimum legal size is a regulation generally 

 adopted, and it is proposed that the gauge of 8 inches should 

 be raised to 9 inches. Further, that, as in Norway and the 

 United States, artificial culture should be resorted to. By arti- 

 ficially Jiatching the eggs and rearing the young through the 

 larval stages till they have reached a certain size, they are pro- 

 tected from their natural enemies, and if then transferred to the 

 sea would be better able to take care of themselves. That the 

 ])roce?s is feasible has been shown both in Norway and the United 

 States. A complete lobster-hatchery could be established for a 

 comparatively small sum at some suitable point on the west 

 coast. Unless some steps be taken, the lobster fishery of Scot- 

 land is likely to become the memory of a pleasant and profitable 

 past. Mr. Thomas Scott gives in interesting detail, a " Revised 

 List of the Crustacea of the Firth of Forth," which records 230 

 species, including 41 of Ostracoda, 42 of Copepoda, and 13 

 Schizopods. Of these species many are new to the district, and 

 two Copepods — Aztrdrogus papillattis and Cyclops nvarti — new 

 to science. This list is a valuable addition to our knowledge 

 of the Crustacean fauna of this region, previously studied by 

 Leslie, Herdman, Henderson, and others. Mr. Scott also sup- 

 plies notes on the contents of the stomachs of herring and 

 haddock, and on interesting fishes, &c., sent to the University 

 of Edinburgh. The nature of "red cod," a fungoid condition 

 sometimes met with in the preserved fish, is described by Prof. 

 Ewart ; Dr. Edington furnishing and figuring the results of a 

 bacteriological investigation as to the nature of the organisms pre- 

 sent, and the cause of the red coloration. Ked cod was first 

 noticed in America, but has since been observed in various 

 places, including two as far apart as Algiers and the Hebrides, 

 Used as food in this state, the results may be disagreeable or even 

 dangerous. It was generally referred to the presence of a minute 

 Fungus {Clathrocytis rosco-pcrsicina), but Dr. Edington ascribes 

 it to a special Bacillus {Bacillus rubescens), which also existed 

 in the salt used for curing, and thus infected the fish. Mr. W, 

 L, Hoyle reports on biological investigations in the sea to 



the west of Lewis during July and August 1887, and gives a 

 list of the various forms obtained. Prof. Mcintosh, F. R.S., 

 gives Reports from the Marine Station at St. Andrews. These 

 deal chiefly with the stages of development in several of the 

 food-fishes, and with the Annelids and other forms used as bait. 

 Mr. Calderwood furnishes notes on an iiitra-uterine specimen of 

 the porbeagle {Lamna cormibica) ; and Mr. J. Murray on the 

 fishing-grounds of the Stonehaven district, of which he is officer. 

 A new and edifying feature of the Report is furnished by Dr. 

 Wemyss Fulton's account of contemporary work relating to the 

 scientific and economic aspects of the fisheries. The contemjiorary 

 work carried on in England and Ireland, United States, Ger- 

 many, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Italy, and Japan is also 

 summarized. 



Section C, which is devoted to the physical investigations, 

 contains three papers : on the apparatus required for carrying 

 on physical observations in connection with the fisheries, and 

 on a physical and chemical examination of the water in the 

 Moray Pirth and the Firths of Inverness, Cromarty, and Dor- 

 noch, by Dr. John Gibson and Dr. H. R. Mills, the latter also 

 reporting on ttie physical observations on the sea to the west 

 of Lewis, taken during the cruise of the Jackal, as described 

 previously by Mr. Hoyle. These papers are illustrated by ten 

 graphic plates, with tables, charts, &c. 



As may be seen from the foregoing abstract of the Report, 

 the Scottish Fishery Board is doing good and trustworthy work 

 in many directions, and, from a scientific and commercial point 

 of view, it deserves every encouragement from the Government 

 and the public. It would be an important aid if, by interchange 

 of Fpublications, the Board could be kept in touch with the 

 important fishery organizations abroad. Unfortunately, at 

 present the number of copies of the Report placed at the dis- 

 posal of the Board renders this impossible. This should be 

 remedied speedily, as, from an economical point of view, 

 there should be the freest circulation of knowledge on questions 

 touching such an important industry. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Revue d'Authropologie, troisieme serie, tome iv. (Paris, 1889). 

 — The Hottentots in the Paris Garden of Acclimatization, by M. 

 Deniker. As the group consists ?of only six men, five wonien, 

 and two children, the observations and anthropometric measure- 

 ments made by the author cannot be regarded as contributing 

 any very important facts to general ethnological inquiry. To 

 French readers the subject has, however, the interest of novelty, 

 since it would appear that the physical conformation of these 

 South Africans has not hitherto been often made the subject of 

 careful study among French ethnologists owing to their lack of 

 opportunity for examining the living subject or measuring the 

 cranial remains of the people, since the Museums of France con- 

 tain scarcely more than thirty skulls in all, including both 

 Hottentots and Bushmen. The observations of M. Deniker 

 agree generally with those of Profs. Flower, Virchow, and 

 Davis ; and like them he believes that we must regard the 

 Hottentot as belonging to the dolichocephalic type, while the 

 Bushmen must be included under the mesocephalic group, the 

 ce[)halic index being, however, nearly the same, 73, for lioth. 

 The women of the party all presented the well-developed steato- 

 pygia, which is generally admitted to be a national characteristic 

 of the sex, this condition being specially marked even in one of 

 the elder women whose body was almost emaciated in all its 

 other parts. A curious abnormality was noted in two of the 

 men, and in one woman, who presented an interdigital mem- 

 brane between the second and third toes, affecting both feet in one 

 case. — M. S. Reinach in an article on the museum of the Emperor 

 Augustus, whose collection of bones and arms is referred to by 

 Suetonius, points out that owing to inexact interpretations the 

 precise meaning of the writer has gradually been more and more 

 distorted. M. Reinach thinks that we must seek for the site of 

 this so-called museum at Capri, and not on the Roman Palatine, 

 as M. Nadaillac supposes ; while he believes that the ^^ gigantum 

 ossa" spoken of by Suetonius were fossil bones, popularly 

 characterized as ** anna keroum." This opinion, the author 

 thinks, derives support from the story of Samson slaying the 

 Philistines with a jaw-bone ; animal bones having been found by 

 primitive peoples to be more readily available as weapons than 

 implements of stone, which required labour for their fabrication. 

 There is no doubt, moreover, from a reference in the Vedic 



