20 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



any object-lesson could open the eyes of the authorities in our 

 country to the permanence of the food-fishes in the sea, not- 

 withstanding temporary alterations which may or may not be 

 due to man's agency, surely this of the stationary coral of the 

 Japanese seas should.* 



Besides the foregoing grounds, a new area, the Hizen ground, 

 near the Danjo Islands, was discovered in 1886 ; the next year 

 eighty boats were at work, and since then the average has been 

 one hundred boats, and this notwithstanding the sudden storms 

 and the calamities characteristic of the region. The newest or 

 Satsuma ground was opened in 1898, near the islands of Taka and 

 Tsukura, and others have been discovered every year near these 

 islands and those further south, so that one hundred boats work 

 on them. It is probable that all the coral banks have not yet been 

 explored, and that the accidental capture of fragments in line- 

 fishing over this great area may lead to further developments. 



The Japanese boats used in the coral fishery are, as a rule, 

 ordinary fishing-boats, and they are manned by six to eight men, 

 though this varies in the different villages. The captain is 

 owner, while all share in the captures. Prof. Kishinouye, to 

 whom I am indebted for much of the information on the subject 

 before the publication of Mr. Kitahara's paper, thinks it is a 

 kind of gambling. At first the men used a rectangular net 

 hanging from a piece of bamboo, but lately tufts of old netting 

 are dragged at the lower edge of the net as well as at both ends 

 of the stick. The rectangular net of strong cord breaks off the 

 coral, and the tufts entangle it. The principle is much the 

 same as in the Mediterranean, and as the Japanese ground is 

 rocky it might be an improvement to supplement by heavier 

 bars of wood, though this would undoubtedly add to the labours 

 of the crew. They work with the current, and find it most 

 profitable to sweep the ground with the net from deeper to 

 shallower water ; the best months are May, June, and July. 

 Only the Moroto and Kashiwajima banks are within easy reach 

 of shelter, so, as a rule, when signs of rough weather appear, 

 they return to the h arbour. t 



* Vide ' Resources of the Sea,' pp. 25, 239, &c. 



f I am further indebted for information to a paper "On the Coral 

 Fishery of Japan " (Journ. Imperial Fisheries Bureau), by T. Kitahara, 1904. 



