I 
of the fishery Bwr&fof Scotland. 163 
Cornish in a note observes : ' There are two open barrels of the lish 
f exhibited — one at each end of the westernmost case in the Spanish Court. 
* One is labelled "Pressed Sardines," and the other " Salted Sardines," but 
1 they are both of them pilchards, more cleanly cured than is our wont.' 
It is somewhat notable to find that the immature pilchard is now rare in 
Cornwall ; while the sardine as it advances in size disappears from the 
French coast in the autumn just before the shoals of large pilchards appear 
on the Cornish coast at St Ives — October or November. At Concarneau 
M. Pouchet observed the sardine as fished from 31 March to 26 October 
when they seemed to keep advancing in size — say from 107 mm. 
to 190 and 217 mm.; but the progress was not constant, nor the 
shoals 'graded.' The ovaries were only found mature in the large sardine 
called transitory (coureuse) or (Sardine de derive) drift herring. * Un- 
' happily the continual change of place and final disappearance of the 
' " baited " sardine (de rogue) in the autumn deprives us of the principal 
' data necessary to approach the interesting problem of the continuance of 
' the growth, as well as the age of that which visits us in summer.' 
The largest sardines at Concarneau were therefore from 8 to 9 inches in 
length, and these were what are named Sardine de derive: the Sardine de 
rogue — that taken by baiting the nets, according to Pouchet — ' is a young 
* sardine which has never spawned at all, and which disappears from the 
' French waters well before the maturity of its ovaries. It is further to 
1 be noted, that with the sardine the development of the testes or of 
i the ovaries is very unequal, not only in individuals of the same size 
' taken at different times during the season, but in individuals of different 
1 sizes taken at the same moment.' 
The Mediterranean sardine does not seem to be quite so large. Marion 
writes :* — ' From December to March, large specimens only are fished, 15 
' to 16 cm. (under 6 inches). Rarely at the same period smaller fishes of 
* 9 to 10 cm. are taken (under 4 inches). While the larger have their 
f sexual organs in a mature condition, the smaller have only rudimentary 
' reproductive organs The bands which continue to pour in in 
' April, May, June and even up to September, are always composed of 
\ large sardines ; but from the month of July, troops of small fishes are 
■ added to the adults. These sardines, measuring scarcely 6 to 7 cm. (2J 
\ inches), soon occupy the whole gulf. In October, when the fishery is 
' resumed, these same individuals reach 9 to 10 cm. They remain in winter 
' alongside the others, but notably less numerous.' 
Again he remarks : f — ' In April and in the first days of May, bands 
* of Alevins, identical with the Nonnats of Nice, 3 to 4 cm. (1 \ inch), show 
c themselves in quantity in the Gulf of Marseilles, and are killed in con- 
' siderable numbers by the net called mugeliero. It is reasonable to 
' suppose that these same Nonnats of April become the little sardines of 
* 6 to 7 cm. (over 2J inch) in July, increasing until they almost reach the 
' adult size in November. These yearlings develop alongside large 
\ sardines of 15 to 16 cm. (6 inches) which represent an older generation. 
' From the first days of November, the ovaries of these larger fishes are 
1 full of well developed ova, measuring 0'7 mm. to 0*9 mm. The 
* testes are at the same time in a state of repletion. There is, at the 
' same time established a sufficiently great inequality of sexual maturity 
{ between the various individuals examined, which shows us that they do 
1 not all deposit their spawn exactly at the same period. This state of 
' the sexual glands continues to the end of February. I have sometimes 
* Marion, 22nd May 1888. 'La Sardine sur les c6tes de Marseilles' Comptes 
rendus des seances de V Academic des Sciences, t. cvi., p. 2. 
+ M. A. F. Marion, loc. cit. 
