336 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
totally without financial support from public or private bodies. I have to 
keep it going by my work in micro. and lantern departments, and, being 
without financial backing of any kind, you can imagine how uphill the 
work is.” The official publication is ‘ The Journal of Marine Zoology and 
Microscopy,’ edited by Mr. Hornell, of which two volumes have now been 
completed. In the last issue the Editor has contributed a most interesting 
paper on “ The Possibilities of Fishery Improvement in Jersey.” The 
inshore fishermen, such as we have in Jersey, the men who fish in small 
undecked boats, find their own particular grounds rapidly becoming de- 
populated, and, unable to seek the more distant fishing-grounds, are com- 
pelled either to seek new occupations, or to languish on earnings that are 
miserably insufficient. Along the French coast a similar evil state of matters 
exists ; thus, my esteemed friend Dr. Canu, Director of the Station Aquicole 
at Boulogne, and the foremost authority on pisciculture in France, writes : 
—‘ In the eastern portion of the English Channel, the majority of the 
banks formerly frequented on account of the number and the quality of 
their fish, have long since witnessed the loss of their reputation ; they are 
even partially abandoned.” And again :—‘ The diminution of fish catches 
on the banks which line our Channel coast can no longer be disputed. . . . 
The decrease of our small northern fishing ports is more eloquent than any 
statistics upon this point. So well authenticated and so well recognized by 
the fishers themselves is this decadence in Jersey, that it requires little or 
no demonstration from me. Indeed, in view of the absence of local statistics 
as to catches, it is impossible of verification in figures. However, I have 
the authority of our best-informed fishermen for stating definitely that a 
diminution of 380 per cent. to 40 per cent. has been observable in their 
catches of many of the most important of our local fishes during recent 
years, such as Sand-eels, Gras-dos (Smelts), Gurnard, Conger, Whiting, 
Sarde (Red Bream), Flat-fishes, &c., to say nothing of the dead Oyster and 
Ormer fisheries, or of Black Breams and Lobsters, about which we have 
statistics, definite and incontrovertible. The decrease which is caused by 
actual scarcity of the fish themselves is most marked in the catches of the 
Flat-fishes generally (Plaice, Soles, Turbots, &c.), the Bream, Sand-eels, 
Gras-dos, and Lobsters ; in the case of the larger Round-fishes, such as the 
Whiting and the Conger, the cause is probably due to the marked decrease 
in the supply of bait available in Jersey, especially so in the case of the 
Squids (Sepia and Loligo), and of the ‘red-cat’ bait-worms (Nereis). Seven 
or eight years ago Plaice of large size were common in the large bays, 
measuring some fourteen inches long on the average; to-day such fine fish 
are extremely rare, and our market depends for its supply upon imports 
from Plymouth, Lowestoft, and Grimsby. It is significant to notice that the 
decline in Plaice coincides with the sudden increase in the use of set-nets 
and draw-nets in our bay that occurred a few years ago.” . 
