4 



THE SCIENTIFIC AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS 



later stages of growth has received some considerable atten- 

 tion at the hands of such investigators as Marion,^ Gourret,^ 

 Pouchet and de Guerne;^ Canu,^ H. M. Smith;''' and Casimir 

 Cepede.^ The work of this last named author is particularly 

 precise, showing as it does that numerous zoo- and phyto- 

 plankton organisms are to be met with in stomach contents, 

 and that the species described are common to the plankton 

 of the area from whence the fish are derived. Unfortunately, 

 however, no particulars are given as to the sizes of the 

 individual fish examined. Nor is there any evidence put for- 

 ward to show whether this investigator was enabled to work 

 out stomach material to the same detailed extent as a plankton 

 sample, a somewhat important point where the question of a 

 selective capability on the part of the fish itself has to be 

 considered. 



The same author remarks upon the finding of the flagellate 

 Phceocystis poucheii (Har.) in large quantity in the stomach 

 contents of fish examined in April, 1906, a particular form of 

 food which may be referred to more conveniently further on. 

 Generally speaking, however, M. Casimir Cepede's papers 

 show conclusively that plankton formed the sole food of the 

 fish coming under his observation at all seasons. 



The published information respecting the food of the pil- 

 chard in English waters is, as previously inferred, of too vague 

 a description to be of material use in the consideration of the 

 food problem from a wider aspect. YarrelF states : " They 



1 Marion, A. F., " Remarques generales sur le regime de la faune 

 pelagique du golfe de Marseille particulierement durant I'annee i8qo " (Ann. 

 dii Mus. de Marseille, p. 128, etc.) 



- Gourret, Paul, " Examen de la pature de quelciue poissons comestibles 

 du golfe de Marseille " [id., iSqo, p. 30). 



Pouchet et de Guerne, " Sur la nourriture de la ^Sardine " (comptes 

 rendus, t. civ., 1887, p. 712-715). 



^ Canu, E., " Notes de biologic marine faunique ou ethologiques iv. 

 Diatomees et Algues pelagiques abondantes dans la Manche du N.E. " 

 p. 113-T16 (Ann. de la Stat. Aquic. de Boulogne sur Mer, T. 12th part.. 

 Juin, iSqq). 



Smith, II. M., "The French Sardine Industry" (Bull, U. S., Fish., 

 Com. xxi., 1901, p. i). 



^ Cepede, M. Casimir, " Quelque remarciues sur la nourriture de la Sar- 

 dine," igo6, and Contribution a I'etude de la nourriture de la Sardine," 1Q07. 



" Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, vol. ii., p. 98. 



