232 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



some years been aware of its existence in the 

 Southampton Water, and more recently, it is said, 

 in a few of the rivers of the southern and 

 eastern counties ; I believe, however, that its 

 existence so far west as Devonshire is now 

 announced for the first time ; for, although it 

 has not escaped the notice of observers residing 

 in the neighborhood of the stream which I am 

 about to mention as its habitat, as, indeed, it could 

 hardly do, yet the opinion of its being anything 

 more than a Brit, as it is locally designated, ap- 

 pears never to have been seriously entertained 

 before a relation of mine, Mr. Abel Pulman, of 

 Totnes, suspected, and last year completely satis- 

 fied himself of the fact, that it was not the Brit, 

 but the veritable Clupea alba. 



It is the River Dart, that Queen of the 

 western rivers, which now steps in to share 

 with Father Thames the " honor" of producing 

 this interesting species. The part of the river 

 in which it is found — and it swarms there in in- 

 credible numbers — is that which extends from 

 Totnes Weir to the mouth of the river at Dart- 

 mouth — a distance of about a dozen miles — 

 being the part of the river within the influence 

 of the tide. During the hot months the fish, in 

 particular parts of this interval, line the sides 

 of the river in shoals, and often attract the most 

 indifferent observer by the singularity of their 

 movements ; ever and anon the water seems alive 

 with their gambols, or as if hailstones were 

 falling thickly upon its surface. The fish are 

 then evidently engaged in feeding upon the 

 myriad Shrimps which occupy the places alluded 

 to, for the little victims spring continually above 

 the surface in futile attempts to escape from their 

 active and insatiable enemies. The whole of the 

 specimens examined by Mr, Pulman contained 

 numbers of these little Crustacea, more or less 

 digested, so that the nature of the Whitebait's 

 prey is placed beyond a doubt. The little fish itself 

 is known, on similar evidence, to become the prey 

 of the Bass and other larger species which inhabit 

 this romantic stream.* Bushels upon bushels of 

 the Whitebait are hauled ashore, during the 

 fishing season, in the Salmon-nets, and are left, 

 with wasteful indifference, to rot upon the banks. 

 A gentleman last summer ventured upon the ex- 

 periment of cooking a few, by way of sample, 

 and he pronounces them to be in every way iden- 

 tical — ecpually delicious as a piscatory morceau — 

 with the far-famed Greenwich luxury. 



Whether the fish remain in the river during 

 the whole year, or otherwise, has not been 

 ascertained ; but they have been observed in 

 March and in every succeeding month till the 

 end of November, and the fishermen do not re- 

 member their absence from the Salmon-nets at 

 whatever season those nets might have been 

 used ; a fact which, if it does not settle the ques- 

 tion of time (and, of course, I do not advance it 

 with that intention), at least speaks plainly as 

 to the sort of mesh employed on the Dart in the 

 capture of Salmon, and thus adds another in- 

 stance to those which are constantly occurring 

 of the short-sighted folly which, by using nets 



* The number of species of fish produced in 

 the Dart is very considerable : even the Stur- 

 geon has been captured in its waters. 



sufficiently small to capture the Salmon fry along 



with the parent fish, is everywhere dooming to 

 positive extinction the princely race of Salmo. 



The specimens of Whitebait from the Dart 

 which have fallen under my notice, appear to 

 answer in every particular to the description of 

 Clupea alba by Yarrell and other writers. _ Spe- 

 cimens have also been submitted to the editor of 

 this magazine, and he has unequivocally set the 

 seal of corroboration to the o\ inions on the sub- 

 ject which had previously been entertained, in all 

 humility, by my relation and myself.— G. P. 



Note. — By S. H anna ford, Jun., of Totnes. 

 If there was any doubt before as to the Clupea 

 alba being in the Dart, there can be none now, 

 for I have carefully dissected two of my speci- 

 mens, and the vertebra* decide it. The only 

 other of Clupea genus which has a serrated ab- 

 dominal line is Clupea sprattus, according to 

 Yarrell, which has only forty-eight vertebrae ; 

 whilst of the two specimens I examined, I 

 counted in one fifty-four, and in the other fifty- 

 five. Yarrell says fifty-six ; but, from the 

 length of time mine have been kept, I may 

 have mistaken one or two, and without the aid 

 of a good microscope. 



The other articles in the " Naturalist" 

 are, as usual, attractive and interesting ; and 

 as the season advances, we shall have in it, 

 we hope, many more " curious facts" like 

 those we have here recorded. 



CURIOSITIES OF KATURE. 

 THE BEARD OF THE MUSSEL. 



There is scarcely a lady possessing 

 any approach to a collection of natural curio- 

 sities, who has not a brown, silky-looking 

 substance, which she terms the heard of the 

 mussel. She will, with pleasure, learn its use 

 and mode of formation : — 



The Pinna, or Marine Mussel, when in- 

 habiting the shores of tempestuous seas, is 

 furnished, in addition, with a singular appa- 

 ratus for withstanding the fury of the surge, 

 and securing itself from dangerous collisions 

 which might easily destroy the brittle texture 

 of its shell. The object of this apparatus is 

 to prepare a great number of threads, which 

 are fastened at various points to the adjacent 

 rocks, and then tightly drawn by the animal ; 

 just as a ship is moored in a convenient sta 

 tion to avoid the buffetting of the storm. 



The foot of this bivalve is cylindrical, and 

 has, connected with its base, a round tenc'on 

 of nearly the same length as itself, the office 

 of which is to retain all the threads in firm 

 adhesion with it, and concentrate their power 

 in one point. The threads themselves are 

 composed of a glutinous matter, prepared by 

 a particular organ. They are not spun by 

 being drawn out of the body like the threads 

 of the silk-worm, or of the spider ; but they 

 are cast in a mould, where they harden, and 

 acquire a consistence before they are em- 



