of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
419 
seilles fire given by M. Paul Gourret, "v^ith special details on the tunny 
fisliery, the sardine fishery, and the fishery for spiny lobsters (Palinurtis). 
M. Gourret also treats of the consumption and trade in fish and shell- 
fish at Marseilles, and points to the diminution of productiveness of in- 
shore ground, apparently largely through the instrumentality of a large 
trawl-net (Chahd 'leboeuf'), used by small coasting vessels (tarianes). 
This mode of fishing was interdicted between 1793 and 1830 in the 
arrondissejnent of Marseilles, but after 1830 it was allowed by vessels 
from 10 to 12 tons, under certain conditions. When the fishery was 
resumed the takes were so great that a large number of vessels were fitted 
out for this fishery. In a few years the grounds were again depleted, 
and the trawlers had to search for new fishing grounds. In 1877 the 
la'st of these tartanes, fishing with the " boeuf " in the Gulf of Marseilles, 
was dismantled. An account is given of the quantities and kinds of fish 
consumed at Marseilles. Various kinds of shell fish are used, and also 
ascidians (* Vioidets ' — Microcosmus) and sea-urchins (Strongylocentrotus 
lividus). 
M. Paul Gourret gives the results of the continued researches into the 
food of the edible fishes (which were begun by M. Elie Arnoux), com- 
prising nineteen species ; few of them are common in this country. M. 
Gourret also gives the results of further investigations into the condition 
of the reproductive organs of a large number of fishes. There are also 
papers by M. Gourret on certain modes of fishing used locally, and the 
kind and size of fish caught, and it is proposed that certain of these 
should be made subject to restriction and regulation. Professor Marion 
describes the fishery for and the reproduction of Atherina hepsetus. In 
Provence three species of Atherines are fished, the most important being 
A. hepsetiis (Siouclet), which assembles in great shoals at certain spots for 
the purpose of spawning, from January to April. The ova are relatively 
large, 2 "5 mm., indicating that they are demersal, and are deposited in 
pebbly creeks. They are fixed by very delicate entangled filaments 
on the exterior of the ' chorion ' to pebbles, or more commonly to 
the stems of Bryopsis, Ceramium, &c. Professor Marion has found 
them attached to the spines, of sea-urchins (Strongylocentrotus). The 
condition of development of the embryo within the ova, in situ, shows 
that successive depositions take place — a fact also shown by the very 
varying sizes of the young fishes. When hatched the larva is 8-9 mm. 
long. Professor Marion gives also the further observations he has made 
on the sardine on the Marseilles coast during the season 1889-90, and I 
am indebted to him for the following notes regarding the sardine, which 
he has obligingly communicated. 
The sardine fishery in the Gulf of Marseilles is carried on during the 
whole year, but the quantity of fish brought to market varies greatly 
in difi'erent years — from 200,000 to 600,000 kilogrammes. The sardine 
is captured chiefly by upright drift nets (called Sardinaou), allowed to 
drift in the current and attached, like herring nets, to the boat. Seine 
nets, called Issaugo, are also used, consisting of a bag or pocket with two 
large wings to encircle the fish ; and at the mouth of harbours young 
sardines are captured in nets {Mugdiere) composed of a flat bottom, and 
of two wings raised from bottom to top. In the Gulf of Marseilles 180 
boats are employed in drifting for sardines, each manned by four men ; 
seining (Issaugo) is carried on by eight boats, each requiring twenty 
men ; and the fishery with Mugeliere is carried on by fourteen boats, eacli 
* Exameii de V6tat de maturite sexuelle dc quelqms Poissons comestibles du Golfc de 
Marseille. . Aimales du Mas6e d'Histoirc nalurelle de Marseille, torn iv. Travaux de 
Zoologie a-ppliqiUe, p. 31, 
