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mittee, composed of competent persons — members of parliament, 

 professors of zoology, and government officers — had meanwhile 

 been named by royal decree; to this committee devolved the task 

 of examining the objections to and petitions regarding the new 

 fishery regulations, and that of providing for special cases that 

 had been overlooked or not sufficiently provided for. Much la- 

 bour was got through by single members and in two general 

 meetings of the Fisheries Committee, and the results were new 

 and revised regulations both for sea and freshwater fisheries ; 

 the first of which, promulgated on the 13th of November, 1882, 

 appears to have met with the requirements of most fishermen, 

 and to guard sufficiently the preservation and propagation of the 

 more important species of food-fishes. It consists of ninty-niue 

 articles divided into six chapters. The new regulation for fresh- 

 water fisheries is now ready. Such is a very summary account 

 of the actual state of fishery legislation in Italy. 



III. Sea-Fisheries. — A. General. — 1. fishermen. — Not every- 

 where along the Italian seaboard do fishermen, as in other parts 

 of Europe, form a separate and well-defined class; the reason 

 of this must be sought in the comparative small importance of 

 special fisheries, both in the Mediterranean and in the Adriatic. 

 Along many miles of our coasts, fishing is done in a desultory 

 manner by old men, women and childron, who do any other 

 sort of work besides, while the able-bodied men are away at sea 

 or as workers in naval yards or elsewhere ; in some localities 

 the inhabitants do not fish ai all. But exceptions also exist, and 

 one of the most remarkable cases is that of Chioggia near Ve- 

 nice, where the entire male population, except infants, is engaged 

 in fishery, and passes a large portion of the year away from 

 home down the Adriatic to the Ionian islands. On the southern 

 Italian coasts of the Mediterranean, fishing populations are also 

 met with, and a<* especially so may be quoted the inhabitants of 

 the Ponza Islands, Ischia, Faro (Messina), Trapani and Taranto. 

 As a matter of course, special fisheries are usually in the bands 

 of special classes of fishermen, as those of the thunny, anchovy, 

 and precious coral. — 2. Boats.— A bare enumeration of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of boats used for sea-fisheries along the coasts of 



