July 1, 18G5.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



]65 



PISH TATTLE. 



Eox-snARK. — A specimen of the Thresher or Fox- 

 shark is now being shown here at the moderate 

 charge of two-pence each, liaving", unfortunately for 

 itself, got entangled in a mackerel-rope, twisting the 

 rope round its tail, or the net never could have held 

 it. It was towed in about nine miles from the place 

 of capture, and still shows slight signs of life. It 

 is this species which is reported to assist the sword- 

 fish in attacks on the whale, the latter stabbing 

 while the thresher administers violent blows. The 

 tail is more than half the length of the fish, the fin 

 running beneath it being just 7 feet long, while the 

 total length from snout to tip is 13 feet 4 inches ; 

 the pectoral fins are 2 feet long, and the dorsal 1 

 foot 2 inches ; two rows of rather small teeth in the 

 lower jaw; those in the upper appear sunk in a 

 groove. The skin is, of course, roughish when 

 stroked " the wrong way " on the body and pectoral 

 fins, but on the other fins it feels smooth in any 

 direction. The individual in question is a male, 

 and is, I believe, the fii'st example of the species 

 that has been taken on this part of the coast. — 

 G. Quyon, Ventnor, Isle of Wight. 



Great Slaughter of Fish in the Roden. — 

 At an early hour on the morning of Sunday, the 

 21st May, a large quantity of fish were found lying 

 dead on the bottom of the river Eoden, near the 

 town of Wem, Shropshire. On inquiries being 

 made, it was found that the careless authorities of 

 the Wem gas company had drained an old gas tank 

 into the street sewer which empties itself into the 

 river. On going down the river, the fish were found 

 dead for miles, the bottom of the river being 

 literally strewed with dead fish. Some very fine 

 trout, weighing from two to five pounds, and pike 

 from two to seven pounds each, were picked from 

 the sides of the stream. Not a single fish was seen 

 alive. Fears are entertained of the poisonous water 

 reaching the Severn, where, if it should not have 

 lost its hurtful properties, great damage will doubt- 

 less be ^..ma. No better trout streams than the 

 Eoden existed in Shropshire, and the greater part 

 of it being preserved by Sir V. R. Corbett, Lord 

 Hill, and others, there was always abuudauce of 

 sport. Actions have been commenced by some of 

 the river proprietors against the gas company for 

 polluting the stream. When will the legislature 

 be alive to the necessity of preventing the recur- 

 rence of wholP/^ale fish murders like this? Until 

 our streams and rivers are freed from sewage there 

 will be but small chance of pastime to the angler, 

 and much less of obtaining that which, in these 

 days of dear beef and mutton, would be most 

 acceptable— a supply of fish as food for the people. 

 —B.A. 



Reproduction of the Eel.— I think that W. 

 Houghton, in your last number, does not satis- 

 factorily account for "nothing like a roe having 

 ever been found in the eel," as stated by " E. B." at 

 p. 118, and I cannot consider the fringes mentioned 

 by W. Houghton as any proof that the eel is 

 oviparous. Surely if the eel was oviparous as 

 other fish are, a regular roe would long ere this 

 have been met with. I have in my time caught 

 some thousands of eels, but never met with one 

 having a roe, and, in fact, have not heard of such 

 a thing. I have been informed by a party who has 

 long been accustomed to fishing for eels, and on 

 whose statement I can place implicit reliance, that 

 on more occasions than one, on his return from 

 fishing at niglit, he has placed eels in a tub of water, 

 and in the morning has found lots of young eels 

 about the length of his thumb-nail swimming about 

 in the water, and that he has occasionally found 

 young ones of about the same size in the bag iu 

 which he brought his eels home. The same party 

 also informs me, that not long since, on his cutting 

 an eel asunder, he found several young ones in its 

 stomach. As I am perfectly convinced of the truth 

 of the above statements, I must, of course, range 

 myself on the side of those who consider the eel as 

 viviparous ; and I am satisfied I could, on inquiry, 

 procure plenty of credible evidence to establis-h the 

 fact to the satisfaction of any jury. — H. C. S. 



Extraordinary Voracity of a Trout.— As 

 Mr. R. Jackson, jun., of Laugdale, was on his way 

 to the Windermere railway station, and when near 

 to Dove's Nest, on the shore of Windermere Lake, 

 he observed something floating on the water, which 

 he at first supposed to be a pike ; but on approach- 

 ing the beach, he soon satisfied himself that it was a 

 trout of no mean size, M'ith not sutficient strength 

 left to battle against the waves. With the aid of a 

 stick which was procured near to, and by wading a 

 short distance into, the water, Mr. Jackson succeeded 

 in landing the now exhausted fish, which proved to 

 be a fine great trout weighing one pound and a half, 

 whilst tightly wedged in its throat was a perch 

 measuring six inches in length, which the trout had 

 been unable to gorge, and had by its voracious ap- 

 petite brought itself to grief. It is a common prac- 

 tice to capture pike in Windermere Lake by means 

 of a bait nearly half the size of themselves; but we 

 think the oldest and most experienced fisherman will 

 be unable to bring to record an incident like the 

 preceding one, where a trout had been known to 

 take for bait a perch weighing over three ounces. — 

 Kendal Herald. 



. Things which are beautiful in themselves, inde- 

 pendently of all association, will necessarily at al 

 times be beautiful. 



