SCOMBRESOCID^. 149 



of fhe gar-fish thus passing through the thickest part of the peal. Coiich 

 observed that it is an indiscriminate feeder, eating any animal substances it can 

 seize. Thompson mentions a 15-spined stickleback having been found in the 

 stomach of one captured August 10th, 1850. Its digestion appears to be very rapid. 



Means of capture. — It will take a bait, but when hooked makes most vigorous 

 efforts at escaping. On the coast of Donegal it is captured in the following 

 way : — Nets are fixed on wooden frames and allowed to float about, these fish 

 jumping over the sides become captured : the same plan is employed at Land's 

 End. They are frequently taken in mackerel nets, and during the last half of 

 the year numbers are captured in Cornwall in seine nets. 



Baits. — Pieces of fish, mussels, &o. It never plays round a bait, but seizes it 

 as if it were living. It strikes obliquely upwards, hence it happens that when 

 it takes the hook, the first notice of the capture is the fish starting into the air 

 with the line, and then beating itself about on the surface to get rid of the hook, 

 and in doing this it always emits a very strong and peculiar odour (R. Couch, 

 Zool. 1847, p. 1613). 



Breeding.* — Along the south coast of England this fish breeds in May and 

 June, but, according to Andrews, in July in Dingle and Ventry Bays in Ireland. 

 On May 14th, 1881, Mr. Dunn sent me a portion of a mackerel net with many ova 

 of the gar-fish attached to it by tentacular filaments springing from the outer 

 surface of the eggs (plate cxxvii). The fish having become entangled in a mackerel 

 drift net, had voided its eggs while endeavouring to escape, and these latter, 

 owing to their peculiar appendages, are enabled to attach themselves to any 

 object in the vicinity (see page 146). Mr. Dunn obtained another supply on 

 June 25th, and on making some experiments found that the filaments will even 

 adhere to polished metal. These eggs when extruded must float in the sea with 

 their long filaments waving about until they meet with some object to which 

 they can attach themselves ; or they may serve to bind together large numbers of 

 eggs into one mass and fix such to some suitable substance. 



I have already alluded to the peculiar manner in which the jaws of this fish 

 are developed. Under one inch the upper profile of the snout is somewhat 

 obtuse, the upper jaw very short, the lower a little longer. This stage has been 

 termed Hemirarrvphus ohtusus, R. Couch, although the fishermen assured him they 

 were the young of the gar. As the fish becomes from 2 to 3 inches in length, 

 the lower jaw has much increased in length, being many times longer than 

 the upper jaw, which is almost triangular : at this stage it has been termed 

 Hemiramphus Europeus. On October 28th, 1880, I obtained an example 8'6 

 inches long from Devonshire : the entire length of its head was 3'1 inches : of 

 the lower jaw from the angle of the mouth 2-1 inches: of the upper jaw 

 from the angle of the mouth 1-6 inches. On November 23rd, 1881, I obtained 

 another from Devonshire, 8'5 inches long : its head being 28 inches, lower jaw 

 1'8, upper jaw 1 inch. The foregoing would lead one to conclude that this fish 

 increases rather rapidly in length, attaining to about 8 inches in length at three 

 months' age. The very young Lowe found in Norfolk (July 6th, 1868) had been 

 living upon Entomostraca. 



As food. — Pretty good, but owjng to the green colour of the bones of this 

 fish, both before and after boiling, a prejudice against eating it is entertained in 

 some localities. They are often plentiful in the London market, especially in the 

 spring. Large numbers used to be sent there from the coasts of Kent and Sussex. 

 Their smell when first captured is not always agreeable. Parnell states that many 

 persons consider them superior to mackerel as food, being firmer, whiter in the flesh 

 and possessing much the same flavour, but it is generally considered more dry. 



Ifses. — Bait for ground fish when other kinds run short, for which when cut 

 into strips they are found very efficient. 



Habitat. — Distributed from Iceland and the Scandinavian coast, the Baltic, 

 North Sea, and Atlantic coasts of Europe to the Mediterranean. 



* See article on the Developinent of the Silver Gar-fish, Belone longirostris, T. A. Ryder, Bull. 

 United States' Fish Commission, vol, i, 1881, p. 283. 



