FISHES 473 



inflated and they cannot sink. 1 The Perch is seldom taken in 

 our rivers. T. C. Hey sham wrote to Yarrell on January 10, 

 1835, that the Perch was now and then taken in the Solway 

 Firth — washed down, no doubt, by heavy floods. A loose note 

 shows that T. C. Heysham examined a Perch taken in the Eden 

 at Kinggarth, March 1849. It was in good condition. Mr. 

 H. Leavers has known several Perch to be captured in the Eden 

 of recent years. 



BASSE. 



Labrax lupus (Lacep.). 



The Morecambe Bay fishermen take a fair supply of Basse in 

 most summers in the stake-nets at Foulney, and in draught-nets. 

 A fish weighing 7 lbs. was caught near Greenodd in June 1891, 

 in a draught-net. This was a fine specimen, but Mr. Nicol 

 tells me that he has known this species to attain a weight of 

 13 lbs., and that examples scaling 7 lbs. are not very uncommon 

 in the Solway Firth. The Silloth Fishermen term this fish the 

 ' Perch.' In spring and summer they capture Basse in their 

 draught-nets. In May and June it is sometimes taken in the 

 haaf-net. In winter Basse are sometimes caught on long lines 

 off Beckfoot. Mr. Hutchinson recently showed me a Basse 

 which he had received from the Duddon estuary. Joseph 

 Farren tells me that he catches fewer Basse than formerly in 

 the Eavenglass estuary. 



Order A GANTHOPTER TOIL Fam. MULLIDM. 



RED MULLET. 



Mullus barbatus, L. 



Red Mullet are well known to the Morecambe Bay fisher- 

 men, but they are not often captured on our coast. Specimens 

 captured in the waters of the Scottish Solway (on the Wigtown- 

 shire coast) have been exhibited before the Royal Physical 

 Society of Edinburgh. 2 These, I find, belonged to the striped 



1 Report on the Fisheries of the English Lake District, p. 9. 



2 Proc. By I. Phys. Soc, vol. iv. p. 43. 



