14 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the Saturday the ' Girl Marjorie' brought in forty-one and a half 

 crans of fresh, and some salted, Herrings. The former realised 

 127s. per cran ; a record price, not only for Yarmouth but for 

 any other Herring port. The salted fish made 50s. per cran. 

 On the following Monday a thirty cran catch sold for the same 

 large figure as on the Saturday. In some seasons when a glut 

 has occurred I have known a last (ten crans) of Herrings fetch 

 bufc £Z ; and as low a figure as £1 10s. for " overdays." 



The fishing had come to a dead stop by December 12th, 

 many of the boats having already " made up." I have been 

 fortunate in securing, in round numbers, the figures of this 

 year's unfortunate " Harvest of the Sea." 



Total crans: 177,430 (or 17,743 lasts) as against 824,213 (or 

 82,421 lasts) last year. 



Boats fishing : English, 361 ; Scotch, &c, 72 (as against a 

 total of 999 last year). 



From the 'Eastern Daily Press' I learn that of pickled 

 Herrings (fish packed in brine) 49,000 barrels have been shipped, 

 "the chief portion going coastwise. Only three cargoes went 

 abroad to Stavanger, Bruges and France, and these went just 

 before or about the beginning of the war." Number of barrels 

 shipped last year — 820,527 barrels by two hundred and forty-four 

 steamers. The report adds the following serious note : — " With 

 a decline of 646,783 crans in the catch, and a falling off of 

 exports by 780,527 barrels, it is probable, taking into account 

 all subsidiary elements — salt, coal, barrels, labour, losses on 

 lodgings, port dues, and so forth— the monetary decline in one 

 way and another compared with last year amounts to a million 

 sterling, on quite a modest estimate." Add to this the failure of 

 the summer lodging season — Yarmouth has indeed been hard hit 

 by the war. 



Of Cetaceans I have seen none whatever brought in, nor 

 Sharks ; and only on one occasion saw any number of Piked 

 Dogs (Acanthias vulgaris) washed up at the tide-mark. Very 

 few dead Herrings or Mackerel have at any time been cast up at 

 the tide-mark, and the vast hordes of Gulls that collect in the 

 vicinity of the harbour have been sadly put to for food ; the 

 poor creatures might have been seen sitting disconsolately on 

 the shore or flying hungrily after each other in a mad scramble 



