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Part III 



', — Seventh Annual Report 



the laboratory, furnishing the conveniences necessary for zoological 

 researches into the extremely rich fauna of the archipelago. 



An annual sum is given by the Government to the laboratory ; 

 part of this goes to pay in certain cases the travelling expenses of workers. 

 Independently of the individual work done by naturalists visiting the 

 laboratory, a series of systematic investigations are carried on under the 

 guidance of the director during most or part of the year. The records of 

 meteorogical observations, made by means of self-recording apparatus, 

 are supplied to the central meteorological office. The director furnishes 

 to the Government an annual report for publication, containing an 

 account of the work done at the laboratory. The site of the laboratory, 

 placed as it is in tbe midst of the district where the French sardine 

 fishery is carried on, has made it a natural centre for the study of this 

 fish, which forms the great object of a large industry. The report for 

 1887, by Professor Pouchet, describes the recent work done at the 

 laboratory.* 



The publications of the work at the laboratory include articles on the 

 colour of the sea and in fishes, contributions to the embryology and tera- 

 tology of the simple ascidians, a catalogue of the crustaceans (Mala- 

 costraca) of the Bay of Concarneau, and a variety of papers on the 

 sardine, their food and the instruments for capturing them. In 1887 the 

 chief work of the laboratory was an investigation into the food of the 

 sardines of the French coast, and of the Bay of Concarneau in particular, 

 and the comparison of these with the sardines of the Azores. Besides this 

 question of food, the work of the laboratory also embraced an investigation 

 into the ripeness of the reproductive organs ; the migration of the fish, 

 and the superficial and bottom temperatures of the water of the bay. It 

 has been demonstrated that the sardine is on the coast simultaneously 

 with the presence of small Crustacea, molluscs and pelagic plants, and an 

 extraordinary abundance of sardines was noted in the season of 1887. 

 Another table gives the average number of sardines caught by each boat 

 in Concarneau from 1855 to 1886, and a comparison is drawn between 

 the numbers got at Sables-d'-Olonne. A valuable table, giving the 

 numbers of various specimens, the date on which they were caught, their 

 weight, length, and the exact measurements and conditions of ovary and 

 testes, closes an interesting report. 



Boulogne-sur-Mer. — Dr H. E. Sauvage, the director of the Marine 

 Station at Boulogne-sur-Mer, publishes yearly in the Bulletin chi Minisire 

 de V Agriculture, reports of the work carried on in connection with fish 

 and fishing. The workers deal with practical fishery questions, especially 

 questions in regard to the herring fishery (which is the great industry of 

 Boulogne), such as an analysis of the nutritive value of herrings. The 

 utilisation of star-fish and of the residue of herrings, and the employment 

 of the products of these in agriculture engage the energies of the workers. 

 Besides these are also studied at the station such practical questions as 

 the best kinds of material to use for fishing-line, and how best to preserve 

 this material, and the composition of the different kinds of salt used to 

 preserve fish. The director has published a note on the fishing grounds 

 for herrings in the North Sea, and he has constructed charts of the 

 fishing ground of the mackerel on the south coast of Ireland. Besides 

 articles on the food of different kinds of fish, and on the food of the 

 sardines of the coast of Boulogne, a catalogue of fishes observed on the 

 coast of Boulogne has been printed. The workers are also turning their 

 attention to the capture and destruction of young flat-fish, and to 



* Rapport sur le fonctionnement dn laboratoire de Concarneau, par M. G. Pouchet. 

 Paris, 1888. 



