138 NATURAL HISTORY. 



species of shrimp no larger than a flea. Couch believes that the spawn is shed on the surface of the 

 water, and remarks that after spawning a sheet of jelly, full of eggs, has been seen extending for 

 several miles in length, and fully a mile in breadth, over the surface of the water, but no thicker 

 than brown paper, and so tough as not to be easily torn. 



The French fishermen endeavour to attract the Pilchards to the drift-nets, which they use, by 

 scattering the salted roe of Cod and Ling. It is said that the fish are so easily alarmed by noise that 

 the firing of a cannon at a distance of twenty miles has caused them to sink into deeper water, hence 

 all the proceedings of the fishermen are arranged by signs. The Pilchard is sometimes eleven inches 

 long ; it is a thicker and smaller fish than the Herring. The upper part of the body is bluish-green, 

 and the belly and sides silvery-white. It is largely cured for exportation. Dr. Giinther distinguishes 

 two varieties, first, the Sardine of the Mediterranean, and secondly, the Pilchard of Cornwall. 



The Pilchard is closely represented on both sides of the Pacific by a variety named Clupea sagax. 



The seine-net appears to have been used from the earliest times in the Pilchard fishery. It is 

 used to surround the fish in the sea when they appear in shoals. In the Pilchard fishery two or three 

 nets are sometimes used in enclosing the shoal. The principal net is about 200 fathoms long, and ten 

 fathoms deep. To this seine another net is united, which is 100 fathoms long, and is called, the stop- 

 seine. There is a boat with each net, and, starting from the same place, the boats move in different 

 directions. The seine is carried outside the shoal parallel to the shore, and brought round towards 

 it by these boats. The stop-net is then shot out towards the land across the direction in which the 

 fish are moving, so as to intercept them. The end of this net is then brought round towards the large 

 seine, and the circle is completed. The stop-nets, if more than one has been used, are afterwards taken 

 out, and the seine is drawn towards a quiet part of the shore, till it grounds, and is moored. The 

 fish are removed from this net with a smaller one called the tuck-seine, which, however, may be seventy 

 or eighty fathoms long, and eight to ten fathoms deep. It is so placed as to get the net under the fish, 

 when they are brought to the surface, put in baskets, and taken on shore. At St. Ives, in 

 Cornwall, the Pilchards are sometimes taken in such quantities that several days may be required 

 for landing the fish from a single net. The Oil Sardine is caught on the east coast of India. 



The fourth group of the Clupeidse is named Dussumieriina. It is a small assemblage of fishes, 

 chiefly found in the East Indies, though one or two species occur on the Atlantic coasts of America. 



The fifth group, Albulina, is formed for the Albula conorhynchus, a fish with a conical snout, 

 of a uniform silvery appearance, a compressed oblong body, and flat abdomen. It ranges throughout 

 the tropical and sub-tropical seas, being found in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Pacific. 



The sixth group (Elopina) has the upper jaw shorter than the lower, and with a narrow osseous 

 plate covering the space between the mandibles. It includes the genera Elops and Megalops, both 

 found in tropical and sub-tropical waters. The two species of Megalops, both five feet long, enter rivers. 



The seventh group, called Chanina, has no teeth. It includes only the two species of the genus 

 Chanos. In this genus the mucous membrane of the esophagus is raised into a spiral fold. 



FAMILY XXII. CHIROCENTRID^. 



This family comprises the one species Chirocentrus dorab, three feet long, in which the air-bladder 

 is incompletely divided into cells. It occurs in the Indian Ocean and Archipelago from Africa eastward, 

 and in the Chinese and Japanese Seas. 



FAMILY XXIIL ALEPOCEPHALIDJL 



The type of this family is the Alepocephalus rostratus, a deep-sea fish from the Mediterranean, 

 in. which the air-bladder is absent. Externally it is of a blackish-brown colour, and is remarkable for 

 having the inside of the mouth and abdominal cavity black. Three other genera are known. 



FAMILY XXIV. NOTOPTERID^E. 



This family comprises the genus Notopterus, which is distributed in the fresh waters of India 

 and the Indian Archipelago, and has two species on the west coast of Africa. The tail in this type 

 is long and tapering, the anal fin is very long, the air-bladder is divided in the interior, terminating 

 at each end in a pair of horns, those in front being connected with the auditory organ. 



