of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



401 



Dr Sauvage is always practical, and insists on the development of 

 more rapid steam communication, the diminution of the rate for the 

 carriage of fish, proportional rates, and the introduction of more service- 

 able fish-train service. He does not neglect to insist on the better 

 management of fishery ports, and the perfection of fishery organisation, — 

 especially in reference to improved forms of fishery apparatus. The 

 educative value of an international exhibition in the principal French 

 fishing ports, to permit the French fishermen to see tho great progress 

 made in other fishing countries, both as regards fish products and engines 

 for capturing fish, is recommended. 



ITALY. 



Beam trawling. — It appears, from a recent publication by the Italian 

 Government, kindly forwarded by Professor Giglioli,* that attention 

 has lately been directed in Italy to the question of beam trawling. At 

 the meeting of the Commission on October 22, 1888, Professor Giglioli, 

 in the course of a discussion on beam trawling, made a long and elaborate 

 statement on the subject. At the beginning of 1887, fishermen of the 

 Gulf of Naples applied to the Minister of Agriculture for the complete 

 prohibition of the use of tho trawl-net. When the authorities were con- 

 sulted, some demanded prohibition (which was formerly in force), while 

 others recommended that the waters should be closed from April 1st to the 

 end of October, and opened during the other months within 3 kilometres 

 of the shore. The report refers to the question of beam trawling 

 in the territorial waters of other states, and makes special reference to 

 the work of the Scientific Department of the Fishery Board having 

 determined several important points in connection with beam trawling 

 in territorial waters, and points out that it is only by such investigations 

 that the necessary data can be obtained for reaching a true knowledge of 

 the question. 



In number 7 of the Bollettino di Notizie Agrarie^ published under 

 the direction of the Italian Minister of Agriculture, Industry and 

 Commerce, there is a report by Dr Fed. Raffaele on the floating fish 

 ova of the Gulf of Naples and their relation to trawl fishing, f Dr 

 Kaffaele, after pointing out that until quite recently it was believed that 

 all fishes deposited their eggs on the bottom, like the herring, and re- 

 ferring to previous observations of Sars and others, shows that in the 

 Gulf of Naples, about forty species, comprising those that are economically 

 important, have buoyant eggs. Some species have free eggs which sink 

 to the bottom, but these are in general deposited not far from shore, and 

 belong to small unimportant littoral species. While the majority of 

 pelagic eggs float on the surface, many may be found at depths down to 

 100 or more metres, the descent depending on the density of the water, 

 the surface disturbance, &c. Pelagic eggs develop, as a rule, more rapidly 

 than eggs attached to the bottom, and their rate of development depends 

 largely upon temperature, some that hatch in two or three days in the waters 

 of tho Gulf of Naples taking eight or ten days in northern seas. It 

 was found possible by Dr Eaffaele in most cases to distinguish the ripe 

 floating eggs of different species by their appearance and character. Arti- 

 ficial fertilisation and the comparison of the eggs caught by the tow-net 

 with those obtained from ripe fish were often resorted to. Dr RafFaele 



* Annali di Agricoltura, 1888. Atti delta commissionc consultiva per la pesca. 

 Roma, 1889. 



t 4 Lc nova galkggiaiiti ncl golfo di Napoli c kc pesca dellc paranze* p. 344, March, 

 1888. 



