418 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



are recorded for the Norfolk coast, as having been taken in the 

 Herring-nets. 



Mackerel (Scomber scomber). — " Scombri are mackerells in 

 greate plentie," says Sir Thomas Browne, "though ... a com- 

 mon fish yet our seas afford sometimes large & strange ones as 

 I have heard from fishermen & others. & this yeare 1668 one 

 was taken at Lestoffe an ell long by measure & presented to a 

 Gentleman friend of myne." This must have been either a 

 Tunny or a Bonito (3 ft. 9 in. !). The largest Mackerel I have 

 ever seen was one taken off Yarmouth on October 21st, 1898; 

 weight, 3 lb. 7 oz. ; length, 21 \ in. ; girth, 12 in. 



[Scribbled Mackerel (S. scriptus). — This by some authorities 

 is referred to as a variety of S. scomber. Occasionally found at 

 Lowestoft among the preceding. There chance-time is found 

 among the Mackerel a variety (concolor), blue-backed, but entirely 

 without the familiar stripings.] 



Tunny (S. thynnus). — This is the species that Browne (see 

 Mackerel) referred to. The Pagets* mention " small specimens 

 [as] not infrequently taken during the Mackerel fishery." In 

 Lowe's 'Notes' is a record from Mr. Gurney as follows : — " An 

 immature specimen, taken off the Suffolk coast near Southwold, 

 I believe, is preserved in the Norwich Museum " (Nor. N. S.). 



Pilot Fish (Naucrates ductor). — The late Mr. J. H. Gurney 

 (Nor. N. S.) says : — <( Many years ago I saw a specimen freshly 

 caught off the Suffolk coast, and sent for preservation to the late 

 Mr. J. Tims, of Norwich, in whose house it was unfortunately 

 destroyed by a fire on the premises." 



Dory (Zeus faber). — " The local trawlers catch an occasional 

 John Dory at Southwold " (R. J. Canova). " Occasionally in the 

 Aldeburgh trawls" (Whistler). Is in no repute in East Anglia 

 for the table. 



Boar-fish (Capros aper). — Mr. T. E. Gunn, of Norwich, in 

 his ' Catalogue of Fishes,' exhibiting at the Great International 

 Fisheries Exhibition in London, 1883, refers to an example 

 which was "caught off Lowestoft in May, 1881." I have seen 

 only two — one taken in a Shrimp-net the same year ; the other 

 was washed up on the beach in May, 1882. 



* ' Sketch of the Natural History of Great Yarmouth,' by C. J. and 

 James Paget. 1834, 



