FISH-NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 5 



mens were identical with it. Couch, in saying, " It may happen, 

 perhaps, that the mere circumstance of colour will not prove 

 sufficient to distinguish them," would seem to have had his 

 doubts also. 



Half a bushel of Flounders were lying on a fishmonger's slab 

 to-day (February 23rd) ; the largest of them would easily have 

 been covered by a longitudinal slice of lemon. I was assured 

 that they were on sale for the cats, but the locality was against 

 this suggestion. 



March 4th. — I weighed an East Coast Herring at 12 oz., a 

 rather large one, although many of the Norwegian " grand- 

 fathers " of the shoals exceed that weight. 



March 8th. — Saw a Smeared Dab (Pleuronectes microcephalm), 

 about 1J lb. in weight, with the whole underside, save the head, 

 of the same colour as the upper surface. Colour-variation is by 

 no means common in this species. 



Large Herrings. — I examined a number of Norway Herrings 

 in a little fish-shop to-day (March 21st), which ran fairly large. 

 Several were 13 in. in length, and 7 in. round them at the deepest 

 part. An example in another shop, said to have come from 

 Scotland, weighed § lb. 



The late Mr. de Caux, in his book on ' The Herring,' refers 

 to his largest example as 15^ in. A Yarmouth " 'Longshore " (a 

 term expressive of its local nearness of capture) runs to 10 and 

 11 in., with a weight of from 4 0?. to 6 oz. I have weighed a 

 14-in. Herring at 14 oz. ; and Mr. E. Beazor assures me he had 

 a 16-in. fish, turning the scale at 16 oz. I weighed one on 

 December 5th, 1900, that for a length of 15£ in., with a girth of 

 7\ in., scaled 14J oz. ; and yet another on December 17th, 1895, 

 at 14£ oz., that was \ in. less round and the same in length, 

 a slightly heavier roe undoubtedly making the difference. 



It seems to me rather curious that a milt (male) Herring takes 

 the salt less intensely than a roe. The majority of local persons 

 buying a red (smoked) Herring ask for a " hard roe " ; I myself 

 much prefer a " soft-roed 'un " (i. e., a male fish), as being of a 

 milder and much superior flavour. 



Comber Wrass (Labrus comber, Bay.). — Two examples of a 

 Wrass, corresponding intimately with the coloured figure given 

 by Couch (' British Fishes,' vol. iii, Plate CXXVI), were captured 



