302 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OP 



or horny prolongations with which it is furnished. This 

 Lernea is luminous at night time, and fishermen assert that 

 shoals of sprats are often preceded by several of these 

 fishes infested by parasites, and which have occasioned 

 them to be termed " lanthorn sprats." 



The britt in Devonshire and Cornwall have been con- 

 sidered by some to be the young of the "herring," but 

 those which I received from Plymouth were " sprats." 

 The Town Council of Exeter annually make an official 

 whitebait repast upon " britt," respecting which discussions 

 have arisen as to whether they are or are not similar to the 

 genuine Thames and Medway species. It appears that in 

 the Exe they ascend with the tide so far as the entrance of 

 the Exeter canal, where they are found from May until 

 September. Mr. Ross (MSS.) recorded in 1838 that he 

 took some of these fish to London to Mr. Yarrell, who 

 decided they were the fry of the " shad." Mr. Couch sub- 

 sequently considered them to be " whitebait," but not the 

 young of the " herring." Mr. D'Urban, the curator of the 

 Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter, transmitted speci- 

 mens to me which were the young of the " herring." 



Continuing my investigations into the britt along the 

 south-west coast, I arrived on August 23rd at Dawlish, and 

 at the beach was in time to see the seine-net hauled />n 

 shore, and as the bagged portion came to the surface 

 innumerable little silvery fishes seemed to shoot through 

 the meshes into the sea, but hundreds were landed with 

 the refuse, some of which I secured. This gave me another 

 opportunity of examining the August britt. The fisher- 

 men considered they were all young sprats, and such I 

 found them to be, while their size varied from of an 

 inch to 2 inches in length. 



It may be that the britt present at the mouth of the Exe 



