SEA FISHERIES: 



THEIR TREASURES AND TOILERS 



CHAPTER I 



EDIBLE SPECIES 



I. Fish, thy name is legion ! Feeding and breeding in relation to 

 migration Current factors and hereditary instincts. II. Table 

 of the principal species consumed in France. III. The 

 geographical distribution of these species. 



I 



FISH, thy name is legion 1 



This apostrophe, whose vagueness I hope the reader 

 will pardon, expresses a truth of pre-eminent significance 

 in respect of the industry of maritime fishery. This is my 

 excuse for setting it at the head of my first chapter, 

 and thereupon devoting to it several lines of com- 

 mentary. 



The class of fishes comprises more than 180 families. 

 Each family contains an average of twenty genera, and 

 each genus five or six species. We thus arrive at a 

 total of some 19,000 species, and there we must cry a 

 halt, as to calculate the numbers of individuals would be 

 impossible, even had we data to go upon ; the numbers 



21 



