168 CHESIL BEACH FISH. 



l>cing darker than others. There is generally a trace of darker red 

 transverse bands on the sides, and the individuals which have these 

 liands most strongly marked are the handsomest. The eye is very 

 large and of a most beautiful golden red colour with a black centre. 



When there were a good many boarfish in the net the herrings or 

 other fish which were taken with them seemed to be frightened of 

 them and came up first in the net, whereas the boarfish were found 

 at the end. The herrings were a good deal pricked by the sharp 

 spines of the boarfish, and it is just possible that the fishermen's 

 idea that the boarfish frighten away other fish maj have some 

 foundation, as the last season has been an exceedingly bad one for 

 mackerel ; in fact, the fishermen have not had a good season since 

 the boarfish appeared on the coast. 



Thinking that the Brighton Aquarium might like some of these 

 fish, I wrote to the Manager, who seemed much pleased, and agreed 

 to buy some from the men and to send a tank for them. They 

 turned out, however, to be most delicate fish, for in spite of the 

 utmost care of the fishermen, who even transferred them direct 

 from the sea to a bucket of water and thence to the tank without 

 drawing them up on the lan at all, there were many deaths before 

 they reached the Aquarium. In the first attempt the tank was 

 taken in a cart which carries away the fish from the beach over a 

 very rough road, and this killed them all. In the second attempt 

 only three out of twelve arrived alive at Brighton, and of these 

 only one was well. In the third five out of nine were in excellent 

 health when the tank passed my house on its way to Weymouth 

 and the rest fairly well, but I have never been able to learn their 

 fate, though I have written twice to enquire. I should fear that 

 they had not been a success. 



The last two fish that I propose to mention are small, but very 

 curious and interesting. 



One is the lampern (Pefromyznnjluviatilis), of which a specimen 

 was brought to me alive. It is a little greyish brown fish, about 

 8 or 10 inches long, a good deal like an eel, and furnished on the 

 mouth with a sucker, with which it sticks firmly on to the side of 



