418 
Fart III. — Ninth Annual Report 
XIII. FRANCE. 
Concarneau Marine Laboratory. — The principal fishery work carried 
on at the Concarneau Laboratory in 1889 related, as in preceding years, 
to the sardine."^ Besides this, a large number of other investigations were 
undertaken by Professor Pouchet, the Director ; M. Chabry, and others. 
Professor Pouchet and M. Chabry made a special study of the develop- 
ment of the larvae of sea-urchins in sea water deprived of lime, f and on 
the action of artificial sea water as a teratogenic agent. % Four years ago 
nothing was known of the natural history of the sardine, of its migration 
or spawning ; but by the researches recently made at the French Labora- 
tories the ignorance has been largely dispelled. Professor Pouchet states 
that the diminution in the abundance of the sardines in certain years is 
always a natural phenomenon, independent of the action of man. It is 
stated that at Concarneau they obtained for the first time ripe eggs of the 
sardine (Clupea pilcharchis), and they are now attacking the problem of the 
place and time of sjDawning. It is also stated that the eggs do not float, but 
are demersal. M. Bietrix, in an appendix to the report, gives the results 
of further observations on the reproductive system. All the ova do not 
ripen at the same time, l^ut only those at certain parts of the ovary, as is 
the case in most fishes. The mature egg is from I'l to 1*2 mm. in 
diameter, and of a density greater than that of sea water. A sardine in 
which the ovaries weighed 16 grammes contained about 12,000 ripe eggs. 
In the tables the sexes are in the majority of cases distinguished. Of SIQ^ 
fish, 178 were females and 132 were males, and I am informed by Pro- 
fessor Pouchet that female fish were not selected in greater numbers. M. 
Bietrix describes the structure of the ovary, and very fully the structure 
of the ova. Tables are given of the variations in size and abundance of 
the sardine de rogue, which differed much from the previous year. A 
special study was made of the winter sardine (sardine d'hiver). Besides 
the adult sardine, said to leave the coast, there are captured in winter, 
more or less near the shore, a number of sardines, not in shoals but 
isolated, whose size does not surpass that of the small sardine de rogue. 
Observations were made from January 1889 to July 1890 respecting 
the average length and weight of the fish, the presence or absence of fat, 
the nature of the contents of the stomach, the appearance of the repro- 
ductive organs, and specially the maturity of the eggs ; and the main results 
are set forth in a series of tables. 
Marine Statio7i, Marseilles. — At this station Professor Marion, the 
Director, and his assistants continue their biological and marine fishery 
investigations. The more important of their papers were recently pub- 
lished § in a large volume, with beautiful plates. It contains a number 
of valuable memoirs. The special fishery inquiries carried on by 
Professor Marion and his colleagues have been along similar lines 
to those in previous years — e.g., the question of the capture of 
immature fish, the food of fishes, their reproduction, and the influ- 
ence of certain modes of fishing. In the fourth volume of the 
Anndles, the statistics relating to the fish caught in the Gulf of Mar- 
* Rapport tt M. le Ministre de V Iij^truction puhlique sur le fmctionnement cho 
Laboratoire de Concarneau en 1889, et sur le Sardine, 1890. 
■\ 8oci6U de Biologic, Jan. 1889. 
+ Journ. de V Anatomie, Mai-Juin 1889. 
§ Annates du Musee d'Histoire naturelle de Marseille, publi^es avec Subventions des 
Ministeres de 1' Instruction publique et de V Agriculture aux frais de la ville, sous la 
direction de M. le Prof. A. F. Marion. Zoologic travaux du Laboratoire de Zoologie 
Marine, torn, iii., Marseille, 1889. 
