86 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



mackerel might be seen at the commencement of the spring, 

 having their heads inserted several inches into the mud and 

 their tails vertically elevated. He continued that in this 

 manner, and in a state of torpor, they passed the winter, 

 while during the first fifteen or twenty days after their re- 

 appearance they were affected by a species of blindness, and 

 could be easily netted, but that subsequently they had to 

 be captured by means of hooks and baits. 



During the winter months, or at the commencement of 

 the year, as January or February, these fish begin to move 

 from the deeper portions of the Atlantic towards the 

 British coasts, and in May or June, sometimes earlier, large 

 shoals of spawning fish appear to the south-west of the 

 Scilly Isles, some of which would seem to pass towards 

 the Bristol or St. George's Channel, or Ireland in a north 

 or north-easterly direction ; while the largest division 

 appear to go up the English Channel along the south 

 coast of Britain. In mild seasons they are generally taken 

 off Portsmouth in January or February ; off Plymouth in 

 1882 they appeared in January, some being taken in the 

 nets set for pilchards and herrings, but generally a month 

 later they are looked for from twenty to thirty miles from 

 land. A few appeared at St. Ives, in Cornwall, early in 

 January, 1882, and about the middle of that month some 

 fine catches were made in the Bristol Channel. In the 

 middle of February at St. Ives the fishing was being very 

 successfully prosecuted. In March the shoals appeared off 

 the south-west coast of Ireland, where French vessels 

 obtain good cargoes, but which locality is not so much 

 fished by British vessels. At first the ova and milt in these 

 Irish fish was not fully developed, but the supply of fish 

 was continuous throughout April, and near Louphead at 

 the mouth of the Shannon upwards of 20,000 a night were 



