1648 Fishes. 



shore, it is westward ; which can only be accounted for by the cur- 

 rents, which are then setting in the same direction. So that if the fish 

 touch the shore to the west of the Lizard, they afterwards sweep in 

 and return to the west. Of late they have not gone so far eastward as 

 in former years, and though the great " schull " is as large as formerly, 

 or very nearly so, yet the fish that pass up our southern shores have 

 greatly decreased, if the quantities taken be an index to the quantity 

 existing. This, however, I rather think is not the case, for the quan- 

 tity taken depends more on the direction the fish take : if they pass 

 up in deep water, they escape the seines, and in some measure the 

 drift-nets ; and if they swim low, they escape altogether, and the fish- 

 ery is a failure. The season of 1845 was not by any means a good 

 one, yet the quantity of fish that passed round the Land's End was as 

 great as ever: in 1846, they passed much nearer the shores, and in 

 the eastern fishing-grounds the quantity taken was unusually great. 

 When the fish prefer deep water the fishery is very partial and uncer- 

 tain, for they will move in the usual mass, for days together, with very 

 little variation ; and then, as if actuated by one impulse, will suddenly 

 approach close to the shores, so that the different stations may be 

 more or less successful from this cause alone. What the cause of these 

 movements is, is not yet ascertained. The function of spawning no 

 doubt exercises great influence, and the state of the weather produces 

 some effect; the currents of particular localities may and do deter- 

 mine local directions, yet the grand movements of the mass must be 

 determined by other and more universal causes. Sometimes the fish 

 are in pursuit of food, and when the fishermen find their nets covered 

 with " sea-lice " (Entomostraca), they always expect large catches. 

 But the shoals appear sometimes to be merely sportive, and at others 

 pass along the shores with great rapidity, as if in search of a given 

 object. The cause of their migrations is at present unknown ; and 

 what can limit their wanderings from the " Smalls " on the north, 

 to the Cornish shores, to the Start Point and Bigburry Bay, in Devon- 

 shire, on the east, cannot even be surmised. The same food, the same 

 water, the same temperature and shores, equally varied with those 

 marking the line of their migrations, are to be found widely extended 

 beyond those limits. Diligent and long-continued observations may 

 eventually elucidate this obscure point in their history, but at present 

 we must remain contented with the facts. 



(To be continued). 



