8 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



roe : the stomach was empty. When cooked I found the fish 

 dry and insipid. In the stomach of a Common Mackerel I 

 found, on the 28th, about a dozen Lesser Sandlaunces. 



In the ' Fishing News ' of June 13th an interesting account 

 is given of a Mackerel glut, when vast shoals filled Dovercourt 

 Bay in the extreme south of Suffolk. It is reported that boat- 

 men by just dipping their nets overboard caught large quantities. 

 Many of the inhabitants had quite an exciting experience in 

 dragging ashore nets packed with fishes ; even young urchins 

 fishing with rod and line secured numbers, some getting over a 

 score. Persons who waded into the water landed numerous fish. 

 It was supposed at the time, and no doubt correctly, that White- 

 bait swarming in the shallow inshore waters were the attraction, 

 and that Porpoises unwittingly "played a part." Undoubtedly 

 these cetaceans were having a really good time among the 

 Mackerel. 



During the month of June the Suffolk ditch connected with 

 the Waveney, in which my houseboat is moored, was swarming 

 on the neap tides with Koach, running to half-pounders. They 

 came to a shallow corner near a sluice-gate to bask in the sun 

 and to feed on the flannel weed (Conferva rivularis). I could 

 persuade but a very few even to look at my fat gentles: one or 

 two which I dissected had their stomachs distended with the weed, 

 and their intestines were loaded outside with an accumulation 

 of fat. They, when horizontally poised, appeared keenly alive 

 to what happened in front of or above them, and would dash 

 with extreme celerity at any insect floating upon the surface. 

 They moved about like so many sheep, and often fed in a shoal 

 head downwards ; the upper lobe of the tail, waving easily, kept 

 them in position. The drainage water from the farm and 

 slightly higher part of the marsh was dirty, and probably 

 abounding in Infusoria. Many were exuding digested weed. 

 One I captured had a host of black spots under the scales, 

 a common occurrence, due to the presence of parasitic 

 Sporozoa : fish feeding in unclean waters seem very susceptible 

 to it. 



Some large prices were realized at Lowestoft in August, 

 shortly after the outbreak of the war. On one occasion a 

 Eamsgate smack landed a catch at the fish market. " Eoker " 



