Reviews and Book Notices. 407 



which is virgin ground to the trawler, the plaice do not spawn 

 until two years after the North Sea plaice. If fishermen 

 only caught the twelve-inch and larger plaice, and left the 

 small alone, they would still depend on one-sixth of the original 

 stock. 



The impoverishment of these fish should be stopped by 

 Act of Parliament, but there are difficulties. If a size limit 

 were enforced the trawlers would go elsewhere, the intensity 

 of fishing would become even greater among the larger or 

 breeding stock, and therefore whilst on one hand we saved the 

 immature fish, with the other hand they destroyed the eggs 

 from which these small fish were produced, by the catch of the 

 spawn fish. In my opinion it is safer to destroy 20 per cent, 

 of the smaller plaice than add to any extent to the destruction 

 of the fish on which the production depends. 



It has been found that if we transplant the small plaice 

 from the inshore grounds to the Dogger Bank, they grow enor- 

 mously quicker than those left on the eastern banks. On the 

 Horn Reef an eight inch plaice grew one and a half inches in one 

 summer ; transplanted in the Dogger Bank it grew five inches 

 in the same time. If we look at that from the point of view of 

 weight, it will be seen that whilst the Horn Reef plaice had 

 grown to six ounces, the transplanted one had grown to one 

 pound. Some use might be made of this wonderful growing 

 power of the fish on the Dogger Bank. An expenditure of 

 /looo would ultimately, yield from £4000 to 1^5000, if spent on 

 transplantation. 



The Earth : in relation to the Universe, seen and unseen, by 

 Polaris. Part I., Book 2. Registered. Darlington : Bailey & Co , 1909. 

 8'i }ip. In this extraordinary book, the writer deals with an immense variety 

 of subjects, freely quoting from all manner of publications usually to the 

 extent of about half of each page. Amongst the references to quotations 

 we find, quite close together, G. K. Chesterton, ' British Weekly,' ' The 

 Naturalist,' Proverbs of Solomon, Romans, R. L. Stevenson, Psalms, 

 Carlyle, etc., etc. The chapters are headed ' The Test of Truth ' ; ' Con- 

 centrations ' ; 'Of Water and of the Spirit ' ; ' The Golden Mean ' ; 

 ' Individuality ' ; ' The Golden Rule ' ; ' Bdellium and the Onyx Stone ' ; 

 ' The Powers that be ' ; ' The Real and Unreal ' ; and ' Havilah.' We 

 have had this pamphlet on our desk some time, but regret we have not had 

 opportunity to read it. Having noted its contents, we leave such of our 

 readers as are interested to procure it themselves. 



We have received the admirably illustrated Report of the National 

 Trust for places of historic interest or natural beauty, which contains an 

 account of an excellent year's work. Those who take an interest in the 

 preservation of England's beauty spots, should get a copy of this publica- 

 tion. One will be gladly sent on application to the Secretary, at 25 

 Victoria Street, Westminster. 



1909 Dec. I. 



