4 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



as Breydoners, so many being yellow, brown, and blotched on 

 the under side, a feature due to the irritation of the colour- 

 pigment cells by water and environment not quite so pure as the 

 open sea. They were not plump fish, like the "grass-fed" 

 Flounders taken in August, when feeding on the crustaceans 

 and mollusca haunting the Ulva and Zostera. 



Sprats were still being caught off the Suffolk coast up to 

 January 7th. 



January 8th. — A very fine Tadpole-Fish or Lesser Fork- 

 beard {Raniceps trifurcus) was captured on a long line, with 

 Cods, off Yarmouth. The ugly head was as large as a hen's 



egg- 



Two fresh and beautiful eggs of the Lesser Spotted Dogfish 

 were brought to me on January 21st, that had been recently 

 swallowed by a John Dory ; the tendrils were quite perfect. 



" Spraggs " (immature Cod running to 7 lb.) were still 

 fairly common in the fish-shops up to January 27th. Large 

 Herrings from Norway had been lately coming to the fish 

 wharf; and on the same date as above " set " Sprats, lustreless 

 and insipid of taste, were being hawked about the town. 



January 29^/z. — One of the large bombs dropped by a Zeppelin 

 in the town (which I had myself seen in a stable lying in the 

 straw not six feet from a pony !) was taken to sea and exploded 

 by a time-fuse in 12 fathoms of water. It caused a considerable 

 disturbance in the sea, and a 20-lb. Cod, victim to the explosion, 

 floated to the surface — an example of " frightfulness " much 

 appreciated by the boatmen who landed it. On the same date I 

 examined a 2-lb. Plaice, which was somewhat singularly 

 formed ; the body was unusually rounded in shape, and the tail, 

 instead of going out straight, turned off at a tangent to one 

 side. 



Bed Mullet. — In company with some small Dories on a fish- 

 slab I observed to-day (February 2nd) a couple of Mullet, each 

 of in. long, which answered to the coloured drawing in Couch's 

 ' British Fishes.' They were whole-coloured — a blood-pinky 

 hue — without any suggestion of the yellow streaks seen in the 

 Surmullet. The heads were not so obtuse as one might have 

 expected. I have never yet seen what I am really satisfied 

 answers to the Mullus barbatus of Linnaeus, unless these speci- 



