2 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



fishes as Sardines as a substitute for juvenile Pilchards, just as 

 immature Herrings have entered largely into the table dainty 

 known as " Skipper Sardines," a most tempting and appetising 

 form of food. Unfortunately, owing to elemental caprices of the 

 Sprat season, the catches are not always to be relied upon. 



On January 3rd (1914) we had a lot of Sprats sent to Yar- 

 mouth which had been " stow-netted " — a lack-lustre, scaleless, 

 washed-out display of murdered fishes, contrasting strongly 

 with the tempting " droves " taken in October and November 

 in the drift-nets. As late as the 22nd these stow or "set" 

 Sprats were still in evidence. 



I met a fish-hawker with a barrow-load of small Herrings, 

 little larger than Sprats, which did not look worth the trouble of 

 cooking in any form. The man himself, who seemed half 

 ashamed of his limp scaleless fishes, assured me that they were 

 part of a catch sent semi-privately from Scotland to a larger 

 buyer. They were trawled stuff, and a sad reflection on the 

 greed that prompted the use of this net, especially upon such 

 immature and useless fishes. 



The local shrimpers got their boats and gear together 

 exceptionally early this year, some of them putting out in the 

 latter part of January. Their initial catches of " Pink Shrimps" 

 (Pandalus montagui) were very small, and the crustaceans them- 

 selves not full-grown, although a considerable majority of them 

 were berried. These men did very badly during the spring and 

 summer months owing to the water being so "sheer" (clear), 

 when the Shrimps and Prawns so easily see the approaching 

 net and evade it. Moreover, immense hordes of small Whitings 

 played havoc with these crustaceans. The Whitings were in 

 evidence all along the East Coast, from the Humber to Aldeburgh. 

 Dr. H. Laver, of Colchester, complained to me of the almost 

 utter failure of the shrimping industry off the coast of. Essex. 

 He wrote (dated October 25th, 1914) : — " I cannot think your 

 explanation [the Whiting pest] as to the scarcity of Shrimps 

 covers all. Last season in the Brightlingsea district, where there 

 are large numbers of smacks engaged in this industry, we started 

 well and, strangely, those caught in the beginning of the season 

 were large mature ones, contrary to the usual catches, when we 

 have small first. . . . We have had this season a scarcity 



