FISH AND FISHERIES OF EAST SUFFOLK. 417 



Pogge (Ac/onus cataphractus). — Sir Thomas Browne calls it : 

 M A little corticated fish about 3 or 4 inches long ours answering 

 that wch is named piscis ocfcangularis by Wormius, cataphractus 

 by Schoneueldeus. Octagonis versus caput, versus caudam hexa- 

 gonius." " A MS. note in Berkenhout says it was called at 

 Lowestoft a Beetle-head (1769)" (T. Southwell). Abundant 

 along the east coasts. I found numerous examples at South- 

 wold among " refuse," and many small ones at Aldeburgh, 

 Sept. 1st (1909). This queer little fish is entirely encased in 

 bony plates. 



Greater Weever (Trachinus draco). — Common enough on 

 Lowestoft wharf among " offal." An example taken on a hook 

 off Claremont Pier (Piobson). Referring to the poisonous pro- 

 perties of its first dorsal fin, Sir Thomas Browne says : "If the 

 fishermens hands bee touched or scrached with this venemous 

 fish they grow paynful and swell." This detested although 

 toothsome fish is still notorious for its dangerous properties, 

 while seine- and deep-sea fishermen still cautiously approach it 

 when freshly shot out of the nets. 



Lesser Weever ('_/'. vipera). — Taken in shallow waters abun- 

 dantly along the Suffolk coast. When strolling by the bank of 

 the Blyth, at Walberswick, in company with Mr. Percival 

 Westell, on August 4th, 1909, we came across quite a small 

 heap of these fishes that had evidently been flung out of a boat, 

 or had been, as he suggested, hooked by some urchin. Numbers 

 are taken off Gorleston in draw-nets. On August 26th, 1909, I 

 saw some visitors' children playing " fish-shops " with quite 

 thirty of these fish, some of unusual size ; they were handling 

 them with impunity. Yarmouth smelters show the utmost 

 disgust with this species, and are very careful not to handle it. 

 At Southwold (Wake). 



Maigre (Scicena aquila). — A fine specimen of this noble fish, 

 a straggler undoubtedly from the Mediterranean, where it is 

 well known, was cast ashore at Thorpe, near Aldeburgh, on 

 August 30th, 1868 ; length, 5 ft. ; weight, 84 lb. The man who 

 secured it thought it was a monster Bass, a fish it somewhat 

 resembles, the spiny-rayed first dorsal fin much resembling that 

 of the commoner fish. The tail, however, is truncated or 

 rounded, that of the Bass being concave or forked. Two others 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. XIII., November, 1909, 2 K 



