246 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



by its actions on the hook. Every fish has its own peculiar 

 action : thus tiie Pollack when hooked starts off at a sharp angle 

 for the sea-bottom, and if prevented from reaching it, will then 

 try to get away by force, and acts very much like a flying kite on 

 being pulled to the ground. The fishermen call it " shearing 

 about." After failing to free itself by this mode, it suddenly turns 

 and darts towards the boat, at the same time disgorging the 

 contents of its stomach by turning it inside out, hoping by these 

 means to clear out the hook. 



For small Pollack the most successful mode of capture is 

 " whiffing." This operation is carried on by two men ; one rowing 

 a small boat about two miles an hour, the other attending to one 

 or two lines towed without sinkers over the stern. The bait 

 should be a thin slice cut from the tail of a Mackerel or Pil- 

 chard ; worms from the sea-beach or small eels ; or artificial 

 baits, as supplied by Hearder or Brooks, of Plymouth. The 

 most successful "whiffer" I ever knew fished with an angling- 

 rod over the quarter of the boat with the line weighted, the 

 snooding entirely of catgut, and with artificial baits. Small fish 

 are also often caught in trammels, ground-nets, and seines, when 

 used for Mackerel and Red Mullet. Pollack a few months old 

 will rise to the fly. 



Breeding. — In many fishes the procreative instinct is active 

 some months before actual sj^awning commences, as in the 

 Herring and Pilchard. This has been noted under two aspects. 

 The first is extreme restlessness and change of locality, until a 

 suitable spawning-ground is found. The second is a state of 

 quietude, and only the taking of such food as will keep the body 

 in its normal condition. These phases of life may be discerned 

 in more than one species of fish. We can scarcely trace the 

 former in the Pollack, but we believe we cau the latter. For 

 although so active and voracious in autumn, but little is seen of 

 them in February and March, although from long observation we 

 are certain March is the general time of those fish spawning off 

 our coasts. That they are then living not far from land may be 

 concluded from the fact that they may be found only a few miles 

 off the coast in April, thin and hungry ; while about the middle 

 of the same month young Pollack, just escaped from the egg, 

 may be seen on the surface of the sea, close to land. That 

 the eggs float on the surface when shed seems probable, seeing 



