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of the demoralization lay not only in the fall of 

 prices, but also in the fact that being large and, at 

 the same time, coarse fish, they set up a prejudice 

 in these markets against all large fish. Herring 

 caught in Yarmouth boats were large iish, and not 

 being easily distinguished from the Norwegian 

 article by the inexperienced eye, fell under the 

 same condemnation. But the Scotch caught a 

 smaller fish by reason of the smaller mesh of the 

 net they use. These fish, by reason of their 

 smaller size, found favour as "pickles" in the 

 Continental markets, to the detriment of the 

 Yarmouth-caught herring. Another cause militat- 

 ing to the disadvantage of the Yarmouth catcher 

 as against the Scotch catcher lay in the fact that 

 Yarmouth boats salted their fish, whilst Scotch 

 boats made short voyages and landed none but 

 fresh fish. The salt item was always considerable, 

 and when "gluts" came and prices fell indefinitely, 

 serious. But the avoidance of the expense was 

 practically impossible, owing to the insuperable 

 difficulty of dealing with unlimited quantities of 

 fresh fish. In i8g6 the total catch landed at Yar- 

 mouth was 19,250 lasts. Of this number 14,420 

 were caught by Yarmouth and Lowestoft boats, 

 and 4,830 by Scotch boats. 145 Yarmouth boats 

 were engaged, catching perhaps 85 lasts per boat ; 

 129 Scotch boats were engaged, catching about 37 

 lasts per boat. The total catch landed at Lowes- 

 toft throughout the year was 8,189 lasts. Of 

 these, the spring and summer voyages accounted 

 for 687 lasts. In Yarmouth, the spring and 

 summer voyages were so unimportant as to be 

 almost neligeable, yielding only 260 lasts. The 

 discrepancy that a calculation made to afford a 

 comparison between the respective average catches 

 of Yarmouth and Lowestoft boats, and based as 

 the above figures disclosed, was due to the large 

 number of Lowestoft-caught herring landed at 

 Yarmouth. The total number of herring landed 

 at Yarmouth may be set down at 254,000,000. It 

 was remarkable that this vast host should be 

 "told," that is, literally counted, not in ones, but 

 in fours or " warps." The fish were " told " into 

 baskets or " mands " on deck. Thirty-three 

 " warps " or a " long tale " (or long tell) hundred 

 go to a " mand." The " mand " was slid on a 

 plank from deck to quay, carried across the road, 

 and emptied into a larger basket, or " swill." 

 Thirty "swills" went to the "last." A "last" 

 was 13,200 herring, or 3,300 "warps." Was the 

 word " mand," now applied to the basket, origin- 

 ally the word for the heaps or " mounds " of fish, 

 each numbering 132 ? Mr. W. H. Tuck sent a list 

 of Aculeate Hymenoptera from Tostock, Suffolk, 

 collected in 1896, which brings the list for that 

 parish up to 181. Mr. A. W. Preston, F.R.Met.Soc, 

 contributed the " Meterological Notes for 1896." 

 The two most remarkable points to be noticed 

 were the lowness of the rainfall, being three to 

 four inches deficient, and the comparative absence 

 of severe thunderstorms during the summer. Mr. 

 J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S., exhibited a white variety of 

 the Sanderling, from Heacham, and an owl new to 

 science {Scops alhivcntyis), from Lombok. 



Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' 

 Club. — The usual fortnightly meeting of this club 

 was held in the Friendly Societies' Hall, Hull, on 

 Wednesday evening, January 20th. The President, 

 Dr. J. Hollingworth, M.R.C.S., occupied the 

 chair. There was a very good attendance. Mr. 

 Boult reported that he had recently paid a visit to 

 New Holland on an entomological expedition, but 

 as the " willow^s " had been cut down, he made a 



fruitless journey. He stated that as a rule the 

 willows were left growing until the end of 

 February or early' in March. Mr. Audas stated 

 that the white-tailed eagle had recently been seen 

 passing over Speeton Cliffs. Other interesting 

 ornithological notes were also contributed by 

 various members. It was also pointed out that seals 

 had lately been observed at Scarboro' and Brid- 

 lington. The exhibits included a skull and several 

 bones of a bronze-age Briton, recently found at 

 Brough by Mr. T. Sheppard, and several entomo- 

 logical specimens by other members. Mr. Porter 

 stated that he had received a letter from Mr. 

 Russell, one of our former members, who is now 

 in South Africa. Mr. Russell complains that it 

 is almost an impossibility to keep entomological 

 or indeed any natural-history specimens in that 

 part of the world, owing to the ravages of the 

 white ants. It appears these animals penetrate 

 into every nook and corner, and their motto is 

 " destruction." The preventives used in England 

 have not the slightest effect upon the white ant. 

 Mr. G. Ross read a paper on "Spiders." The 

 first part of this was devoted to a description of 

 the various organs of these animals, and their uses. 

 With the aid of diagrams and black-board illustra- 

 tions, the relative positions of the organs were 

 most clearly shown, the brain, nervous system, 

 eyes, mouth, " spinnerets," alimentary canal, 

 limbs, etc., all receiving consideration. The 

 second portion of the paper, dealing with the 

 lecturer's personal observations of the habits of 

 spiders, was well appreciated. Mr. Ross explained, 

 in his characteristically humorous fashion, the 

 various little antics he had watched, and the 

 experiments he had conducted with these animals. 

 A discussion followed, in which several members 

 took part. Messrs. Boult and Porter then gave 

 notes " On Recent Progress in Local Entomology." 

 Mr. Boult, who is the club's curator, exhibited 

 five cases of entomological specimens, which had 

 been added to the Society's collection during 

 1896. In addition to the butterflies and moths, 

 their caterpillars are in several instances also 

 nicely mounted. Mr. Boult has long had a reputa- 

 tion for the excellent manner in which he preserves 

 caterpillars, and those in the cases just referred to 

 were up to the usual standard. In addition to the 

 name which accompanies each specimen in the 

 collection is a number, and Mr. Boult explained 

 that opposite the corresponding number in the 

 "record " book were full particulars of the speci- 

 men — where found and when, by whom, names of 

 specimen (both common and scientific), by whom 

 presented to the collection, etc. Mr. Porter 

 referred to the finding of a specimen of that rare 

 moth Bolctobiii fidii^inai'ia on a lamp near the 

 Alexandra Dock, Hull, during the past year. 

 This moth, which is rare, has not previously 

 been recorded for Yorkshire. The specimen has 

 been identified by Mr. J. W. Tutt, of London. 

 It was stated that as the specimen is slightly 

 damaged it was desirable to have, if possible, 

 further examples, and the members, especially 

 the entomologists, were urged to carefully examine 

 the land in the neighbourhood of the docks during 

 the coming summer, in the hopes of securing 

 further specimens. Mr. Porter also read an 

 account of a find, in 1SS4, of the same species of 

 moth on the banks of the Thames at Bermondsey. 

 At the latter place, however, in addition to the 

 moth, the larvae were discovered feeding on a 

 black fungus or mould which grew on old beams 

 there. — Wednesday, February 3rd. The President, 



