216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



unbroken chain of those organisms — from diatoms to fishes* — 

 which form their food at every stage. 



On the whole, the conditions under which the adults of sea- 

 fishes are kept for the artificial supply of eggs are not always 

 favourable for health, and a comparatively small number of such 

 adults in the open sea would produce a much greater number of 

 healthy young. Besides, there is no lack of young fishes in the 

 ocean. 



The whole history of the sea-fisheries of our country, from 

 the earliest period up to date, thus affords no solid grounds for the 

 pessimistic views either of scientific or practical men. It has 

 not been proved that our seas have been depleted of food-fishes 

 to a dangerous extent by man. In pre-statistical times the out- 

 cry was as loud as now, even though the captures were small. 

 After statistics were established, the complainers fixed on certain 

 fishes, such as the nomad Cod and Haddock, till it was demon- 

 strated that their fears were groundless. Then the flat-fishes 

 (supposed to be sedentary) were singled out, and persistently 

 held up — even now — as forms which were diminishing year by 

 year before the hook and trawl. The public are thus constantly 

 harassed by uncertainty and foreboding, whilst the legislature is 

 ever invoked to satisfy one or other group of the pessimists. As 

 Sir Spencer Walpole says, it is the old cry of "wolf, wolf," and 

 yet the wolf has not come during all these years — it might truly 

 be said, centuries. We know that, whitebait notwithstanding, 

 the soundness of the position of the Herring, which furnishes so 

 large a share of the total annual catch, is beyond cavil, and has 

 long been so, and that the round-fishes, such as the Cod and the 

 Haddock, have, though grudgingly, been admitted to be safe — 

 both by their abundance in the market, and the vast areas over 

 which they and their young are distributed. The flat-fishes, 

 such as the Turbot, Sole, and Plaice, possess, not only in the. 

 early condition, but throughout life, a protection which few 

 round-fishes (amongst these the Sand-eel and Sting-fish) have, 

 viz. the habit of living on the surface of, and often covered by, 

 the sand. Moreover, the number of the pelagic eggs of the first 

 named is enormous, viz. about ten millions. In their earliest 

 (larval) condition they are, it is true, pelagic like their eggs, but 



* Lecture, Roy. Inatit. of Great Britain, Friday, Feb. 1st, 1889, p. 10. 



