44 NOTES ON CERTAIN FISHES, ETC., 



herrings. And though the sea aboundeth not with 

 pilchards, yet they are comonly taiien among herrings, 

 butt few esteeme thereof or eat them. 



Congers are not so comon on these coasts as on many 

 seas about England, butt are often found upon the 

 north coast of Norfolk. & in frostie wether left in 

 pulks & plashes upon the ebbe of the sea. 



\^Fol. 30.] The sand eels Anglorum of Aldrouandus, 

 or Tobianus of Schoneueldeus comonly called smoulds 

 taken out of the sea sands with forks & rakes about 

 Blakeney and Burnham a small round slender fish about 

 3 or 4 inches long as bigge as a small Tobacco pipe a 

 very dayntie dish. 



Pungitius marinus" or sea bansticle hauing a prickle 

 one each side the smallest fish of the sea about an inch 

 long sometimes drawne ashoare with netts together with 

 weeds & pargaments* of the sea. 



* This word which Wilkin renders "fragments," is doubtless from the 

 Latin pergamentum, and it seems likely that Browne had in view certain 

 sea-weeds, possibly Laminaria or Uiva which, especially when dry, 

 present somewhat the appearance and texture of parchment. 



" Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain," (1769), in the 

 possession of Mr. T. E. Gunn, that the Bleak and the Sprat are 

 often caught together in the sea at Aldeburgh (Suffolk) in November, 

 and the writer of the note adds, "the Bleak is larger than the Sprat, 

 its eyes are larger, and the upper part of its belly serrated." I think 

 from this description and from Browne's remarks, that the young of a 

 species of Shad must have been mistaken for the Bleak, which although 

 found low down in our rivers almost to where the salt tide mingles with 

 the fresh, does not I believe enter the salt water. 



" The smallest of the genus Gasterosieus, or Stanstickles, is G. pungitius, 

 the ten-spined Stickleback, but this fish is two inches long when full grown. 

 AH the species seem to be more or less indifferent to the salinity of the 

 water. The fifteen-spined Stickleback, G. spinachia, is also sometimes 

 taken by the shrimpers, and is the most truly marine species, but is by no 

 means " the smallest fish of the sea." 



