6 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



where it was sold for £6 : the fish auctioneer telling a newspaper 

 representative that " it took six porters to bring it from Liverpool 

 Street Station to my shop. It was wrapped in sacks and tied 

 up with thick cords. I have never seen a fish so large, and I 

 thought at first a small whale had been sent to me." 



The fish had been first observed on the Sunday, and attempts 

 were made to shoot it, but the cartridges were loaded with too 

 small shot to make any impression on its scaly cuirass : even 

 shot the size of peas, fired as they were through the water, had 

 no effect. A net was drawn across the water to prevent the 

 fish's escape : a boat was launched, and the owner of the shoot- 

 ing rights, a Mr. Smart, went in her armed with a weapon very 

 like a strong boathook. This was thrust into the mouth and 

 the head raised by means of it, then another man who was 

 carrying the gun discharged it into a more vulnerable and vital 

 quarter. Five men were required to land it. 



On June 3rd, Mr. G. C. Gearing, fishmonger, of Lowestoft, 

 very kindly sent me an example of the Boar Fish (Capros aper), 

 the first he had seen during the thirty-five years of his business. 

 It had been netted on Corton patch, about half a mile from 

 Corton Lightship, in a shrimp-net. It was hardly so large as 

 my hand, and is only the third I have examined since my first 

 discovery of the species, locally, on July 9th, 1881. A second 

 example, which I did not see, was netted off Yarmouth on the 

 same date as Mr. Gearing's. 



Whether there be anything in the belief among certain 

 fisherfolk with regard to so-called " blind " Mackerel, I am not 

 prepared to say. The belief is pretty general, and there is a 

 Scarborough tradition to the effect that "it is no use fishing 

 for Mackerel with a line before Seamer Fair [i. e. July 15th] , for 

 before that time they are unable to see." Ignorant fishermen 

 may be certainly excused, when Pennant, probably on the 

 strength of Lacapede's statement, who himself had been told it 

 by a certain French Admiral, wrote as follows : — " In the spring 

 the eyes of the Mackerel are almost covered with a white film, 

 during which period they are half blind. This film grows in 

 winter, and is cast off in the beginning of summer." 



Dr. Day, ignoring his predecessors, in describing the diseases 

 of Scomber, practically pooh-poohs the idea. I mention this 



