SOME FISH-NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 457 



taken off the hook. The yolk-sac was still attached to the fish. 

 This was on Sept. 30th. 



A Flounder, 4 in. long, white on both sides, was caught on 

 Breydon, Oct. 14th. 



Drawn in by the under-current, on a westerly wind, thousands 

 of dead Herrings bestrewed the high-water line, and below it, on 

 the beach, in October. Examining a number of them, I found 

 they had been in many instances bitten by the Dogs ; pieces 

 the size and shape of Brazil nuts were taken out of the back, a 

 fish seldom showing two bites. I take it that many had been 

 bitten when swimming free, and others when helplessly en- 

 meshed in the nets, in which case they would be thrown over- 

 board again. 



The Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicholus) is very oily and 

 tender-skinned, and among the rare examples I have seen taken 

 in the Herring-nets I have not yet found one perfect. An 

 example, 6§ in., taken on Oct. 23rd, had the skin much abraded. 

 I have put it into formalin, and placed it in the Tolhouse 

 Museum, where a number of other specimens, besides some of 

 those mentioned in these notes, have been deposited. Visitors 

 to Yarmouth should make a point of seeing this pretty little 

 museum, located in one of the quaintest of the few ancient 

 buildings still preserved to us. 



A number of Scads, or "Horse-Mackerel" {Trachurus tra- 

 churus), were washed up on the beach, Oct. 27th. 



Beyond a few small Porpoises, I have seen nothing extra- 

 ordinary brought ashore from the Herring-grounds. Two or 

 three, in all probability thrown overboard from the boats on 

 entering the harbour, have floated to Breydon, where a number 

 of Hooded Crows and thousands (from five thousand to seven 

 thousand at a time !) of Gulls are glad to dissect these or 

 any other queer things the tide may see fit to fling upon the 

 mud-flats. 



The Little Squid (Sepiolia rondeletti) is hardly a fish, but it 

 merits notice by its abundance on this coast in the summer 

 months. The Shrimp-boats net thousands, and some numbers 

 find their way on Breydon. I was interested in seeing some 

 boiled ones at a shrimper's one afternoon, when the shrimp-wife 

 informed me that she frequently saved those caught with the 

 Zooi. 4-th ser. vol X., December. 1906. 2 N 



