16 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



a fine Bream (Abramis brama) near Norwich, that turned the 

 scale at 7£ lb., measuring 25 in. in length. 



Whilst incapacitated by influenza on February 6th, news 

 was brought me regarding an enormous Eel (Anguilla vulgaris) 

 that had been brought into port, and purchased by Mr. Eobert 

 Beazor, fish merchant. This gentleman kindly obliged me by 

 sending the great slimy brute to my house. I had no hesitation 

 in deciding it to be an old, undoubtedly barren, female. It 

 looked as unsavoury as a long-kept Wolf-fish, the skin being 

 jelly-like to the touch, while the blue-filmed eyes were as large 

 as sixpences and lack-lustreless as ground-glass. I guessed its 

 length at 5 ft., and was informed its weight was 28 lb. 



A very young 2^ in. Black Sea-bream (Cantharus lineatus) 

 was sent me by Mr. F. C. Cook on February 10th ; it had been 

 washed up on Lowestoft beach, and is new to the Suffolk list. 



A " double " Flounder was captured at Breydon on February 

 18th. A somewhat remarkable number of Flounders, whose 

 under sides are blotched with grey, amber, and brown, and 

 amounting in some cases to an almost entire discoloration, are 

 caught in the "drains" and "runs" and on the mud-flats. Dr. 

 Givnther refers to " the coloration of many marine fishes being 

 dependent on the nature of their surroundings," and to the fact 

 of these colours being produced in two ways, " either by an 

 increase or decrease of the black, red, and yellow pigment cells 

 or chromatophores, in the skin of the fish ; or the rapid con- 

 traction or expansion of the chromatophores which happen to be 

 developed." I take it that the strong chemical forces more 

 abounding in sewer-polluted estuaries, like Breydon, intensify 

 the tendency to discoloration by excessive irritation of the 

 pigment cells. The Flounders taken on Breydon are always 

 dull-coloured on the upper surface, corresponding greatly with 

 the muddy bottom, whereas those netted outside the harbour 

 are invariably of a bright sandy hue, and the under surface is 

 not nearly so often found discoloured. 



A 9k in. Lemon Sole (Solea lascaris) was sent me from 

 Lowestoft early in April. The general tint was sandy or light 

 drab, with a suggestion of black dots "peppered" over it, with 

 a number of pearl white spots, an eighth of an inch in diameter, 

 as if implanted by the end of a penholder. 



