2:;6 



NATURE 



[January 14, 1892 



certain, therefore, that these young sardines were derived 

 from the previous year's spawning, and were between 

 twelve and seventeen months old, probably thirteen to 

 fifteen months. This being the case, the young pilchards 

 hatched the same year ought to have been discoverable. 

 Day states, doubtless on Mr. Dunn's authority, that 

 young pilchards are first seen in September, 3 or 4 inches 

 long — that is, 7*5 to 10 cm. Mr. Dunn himself tells me 

 that the young pilchards about this size regularly occur 

 off this coast in autumn, and that he has seen them taken 

 in seines and in the stomachs of whiting. I found young 

 pilchards myself in the stomachs of the young mackerel 

 taken in the anchovy nets at the dates above mentioned, 

 and in full-grown mackerel examined at the same time. 

 These young pilchards measured 6 to 9 cm., and were 

 doubtless derived from spawn shed the previous summer. 

 It is, of course, possible that the pilchards measuring 1 3 to 

 i6'5 cm. in length at the beginning of November were 

 derived from spawn shed rather late in the spawning 

 season of the previous year, and that their age was nearer 

 twelve than seventeen months. But the above facts indi- 

 cate clearly that the pilchard does not reach adult size 

 in one year, and is not capable of spawning until it is two 

 years old, while the larger spawners are probably three 

 years old. 



If we compare the data and inferences just given with 

 the facts concerning the sardine of the French coast 

 recorded by Pouchet, we find that the data agree and 

 the inferences are confirmed. Pouchet, it is true, denies 

 that the eggs of the sardine are pelagic, and has not 

 defined the spawning period. But he tells us that he has 

 only seen eggs approaching maturity in fish taken in 

 April and May, when the fishing for sardines de derive 

 ceases, and that for sardines de rogue commences. There 

 can therefore be no doubt that near Concarneau the 

 sardine spawns in the months following May. Pouchet's 

 records of the fish captured are somewhat difficult to 

 interpret. He publishes in his Reports the records kept 

 by the manufacturers, in which the size of the fish is 

 registered according to the number required to fill a tin 

 of a certain size. Two processes of calculation have to 

 be carried out in order to get approximately the length 

 of these fish. Having made these calculations, we find 

 that at Concarneau in 1888, in June, the sardines de 

 rogue were I2'5 to 14 cm. long ; in July, 13 to I4"3 cm. ; in 

 August and SeptemlDer about the same ; in October, for 

 the most part 15 or 16 cm., though some were still taken 

 of 13 to 14 cm. In some of his reports Pouchet gives the 

 dimensions according to actual measurement of two or 

 three sardines taken nearly every day throughout the 

 season, but nowhere does he give the range of sizes of 

 the total number of fish taken on one day. Thus in the 

 year 1888 he obtained sardines of 10 to 11 "5 cm. in 

 March, 11 to 14 cm. in April, 15 cm. in May, 13 to 15 cm. 

 in June, 13 to 16 cm. in July, 13 to 14 cm. in September, 

 14 to 18 cm. in October. On the whole, the sardine de 

 rogue gets larger towards the end of the season, though 

 it is obvious that the shoals in a given place replace one 

 another, so that fish taken in September at Concarneau 

 may be of the same age and size as others taken in June. 

 This phenomenon is a necessary consequence of the 

 extended spawning period of the species. But I think 

 there can be no doubt that the sardines de rogue 

 caught in such numbers along the coast of Finisterre in 

 summer are yearling fish, which in the following sum- 

 mer reach maturity at a length of 20 to 22 cm. There 

 is one consideration which may give rise to a doubt as 

 to the general validity of this conclusion. According to 

 Pouchet, sardines 157 cm. long are taken at the end of 

 May : would not these reach a length of 19 or 20 cm., 

 and be capable of spawning, by the end of October, when 

 the spawning period for the year is not yet terminated ? 

 This question cannot be definitely answered in the nega- 

 tive at present. I will merely point out that the incre- 



NO. I 159, VOL. 45] 



ment of length corresponding to the same increment of 

 weight becomes smaller as the fish grows larger. Thus 

 at 13 cm. a sardine weighs about 15 grammes ; at 16 cm. 

 about 30 gms., an increase of 15 gms. ; at 19 cm. it 

 weighs about 60 gms., an increase of 30 gms. 



If, as the above considerations indicate, the sardine of 

 the Cornish and French coasts reaches a length of 13 to 

 16 cm. at one year of age, it is surprising that the Medi- 

 terranean sardine should reach the same length at the 

 same age, since its maximum length is so much less than 

 that of the more northern fish. But Marion finds that 

 the sardine at Marseilles grows at the rate of i cm. per 

 month, starting from a length of 3 cm. at one month old. 

 Thus, according to his table of growth, the sardines 

 hatched in December are 14 cm. long in the following 

 December. I cannot help thinking that Marion has 

 over-estimated the rate of growth, but it may prove 

 that the fish reaches maturity more quickly in the Medi- 

 terranean, although it does not grow so large. Marion 

 has conclusively shown that the spawning period at 

 Marseilles extends from December to May, instead of 

 from May to October. J. T. Cunningham. 



SCIENCE IN JAPAN} 



THE growth of modern science in Japan is one of the 

 most interesting phenomena connected with the 

 history of civilization. The Japanese, and the Magyars 

 of Hungary, are the only peoples of other than Aryan 

 stock who have founded Universities and taken part in 

 the development of the historical and physical sciences. 

 The University of Buda-Pesth dates from the fifteenth 

 century, and at the present moment its large staff of 

 eminent Professors contains but few names which are not 

 distinctively those of Magyar nationality. The University 

 of Tokyo was founded in the year 1868 by the union of 

 the Tokyo Daigaku and the Kobu Daigakko. It has 

 more than seven hundred students, and comprises a 

 College of Law, with eleven Professors, of whom one only 

 is a European ; a College of Medicine, with sixteen Pro- 

 fessors, all native Japanese ; a College of Engineering, 

 with eighteen Professors, three of whom bear English 

 names ; a College of Literature, with ten Professors, of 

 whom two are Englishmen and two Germans ; a College 

 of Science, with fifteen Professors, amongst whom one — a 

 chemist — is English, the rest being Japanese. 



The present volume bears testimony to the high quali- 

 fications and serious work which distinguish the Japanese 

 Professors and their assistants in the College of Science 

 of Tokyo. It contains seven memoirs on biological sub- 

 jects—a branch of study for which the Japanese have 

 proved themselves during the last fifteen years to have a 

 special and indeed a remarkable aptitude. The names 

 of Mitsukuri, Ishikavva, lijima, and Watase, not to men- 

 tion others, are known and esteemed in every laboratory 

 in Europe and America where the study of embryology 

 and comparative anatomy is cultivated. 



The list of papers in the present volume is as follows : — 

 (i) The foetal membranes of the Chelonia, by K. Mit- 

 sukuri, with ten plates ; (2) The development of Araneina, 

 by K. Kishinouye, with six plates ; (3) Observations on 

 fresh-water Polyzoa, by A. Oka, with four plates ; (4) On 

 Diplo2ob7i nipponicuni, n.sp., by Seitaro Goto, with 

 three plates ; (5) A new species of Hymenomycetous 

 Fungus injurious to the m.ulberry-tree, by Nobujiro 

 Tanaka, with four plates ; (6) Notes on the irritability 

 of the stigma, by M. Mujoshi, with two plates ; (7) Notes 

 on the development of the suprarenal bodies in the 

 mouse, by Masamaro Inaba, with two plates. 



Some of the authors of these admirable papers bear the 

 title "Rigakushi," whilst Prof. Mitsukuri alone is styled 



' "The Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, Japan," 

 vol. iv., Part i. (Tokyo, Japan, 1891.) 



