of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



347 



There is also given an important paper on the .Sow-fishing, which was 

 submitted to the Junta de Pesca of Barcelona last December by Sig. de 

 Borja, naturalist to the Junta, and which deals with both the scientific 

 and the practical aspects. 



There is an interesting report by Lieut. Auglada on lobster ponds, of 

 which there aie four, — at Cedeira, Ferrol, Corunna and Corcubion, in 

 which thousands of lobsters are preserved for the market. Other papers 

 deal with oyster-culture in Galicia, the fisheries of the Canaries, the 

 formation of district schools of marine fishery, &c. A statement is also 

 made regarding the zoological studies of a number of officers sent by the 

 Government to the Marine Station at Naples to be trained to deal with 

 fishery problems. In a separate publication Lieutenant Vela gives a 

 statistical account of the Spanish fisheries * from which it appears that 

 the total quantity of fish taken on the coasts of Spain during 1892 

 amounted to 90,587,803 kilogrammes, valued at 43,314,195 pesetas. 

 The number of fishermen is returned as 85,117, and the number of boats 

 20,436. 



11. EGYPT. 



With the exception of unimportant sea fisheries at Portsaid, Suez, and 

 Alexandria, the fisheries of Egypt are confined to the ]S T ile and to certain 

 fresh or brackish lakes, especially Menzaleh, Bouroulos and Edkou. 

 These fisheries belong to the government, which derives a considerable 

 revenue from them, either by letting them to tenants at a stipulated rent, 

 or by receiving half the profits on the sale of the fish caught. The 

 total revenue thus obtained last year amounted to about £97,000. At 

 present there is no special fisheries department, the collection of the 

 revenue being the only connection between the government and the 

 fisheries, and this is under the care of the finance department. Fish is 

 largely consumed throughout the country, chiefly salted (fessikh) and it 

 is mostly eaten raw. The present method of curing is imperfect, the 

 fish being badly preserved, and an effort is now being made to introduce 

 better methods of cure. The most esteemed fish is the grey mullet ; the 

 Nile fish being only used by the poorer classes, and. sometimes 16, each 

 about a foot and a half long, can be purchased for one piastre, or about 

 twopence halfpenny. The methods of fishing are by the seine-net, the 

 casting-net, and by hooks, baited and unbaited. Professor J. C. Mitchell, 

 of the College of Agriculture, Ghizeh, recently concluded an inquiry, at 

 the instance of the Egyptian government, into the edible fishes of the 

 country, and the methods of fishing and fish preserving practised at 

 Lake Menzaleh ;* and he is also engaged in an investigation of the fishes 

 of the Nile. 



12. JAPAN. 



Among the Japanese fish forms the staple animal diet, and the fisheries 

 of Japan rank among the most important of the national industries. I 

 am indebted to Dr K. Kishinouye, of the Fisheries Bureau, Tokyo, for the 

 greater part of the following account. The number of fishermen employed 

 in 1891 is returned at the enormous figure of 1,943,015, and 4 the number 



* JEstadistica de Pesca, ano, 1892, Madrid, 1894. 



t Report on the Edible Fishes of Lake Menzaleh, their Capture and Preservation 

 Cairo, 1895. 



