THE BREAKING OF THE SHROPSHIRE MERES. 
59 
temporary resident on the banks of this savoury piece of water, it 
was once my fortune to witness this event. On the morning of 
June 4, the weather having been very hot and dry, an animated 
scene presented itself from my bedroom window. All the available 
boats were on the lake, and its margin was lined, wherever footing 
could be obtained, by eager men and boys. The mere was ‘ sick,’ 
and the eels shared the sickness, coming to the edge of the 
water, and there lying in a helpless condition. Some of the men 
were armed with long wooden ‘ snappers,’ not unlike blacksmith’s 
tongs, the grasping portion being thickly set with wire points or 
projecting nails ; others had sticks, at the end of which were 
securely fastened large eel-liooks, and with these cruel implements 
they struck at and secured the stupefied fish.” 
I quote this as a graphic description of “ breaking ” such as we 
have in the Shropshire meres, excepting what he says of sewage, 
which does not apply; and because it illustrates the ignorance of 
an observant man in attributing the breaking to Infusoria. 
The real cause of “breaking” is the extensive and rapid growth 
of certain very minute water plants, belonging to the algae, whose 
entire brief cycle of existence passes while submerged in water. So 
far as the investigations of the commission of inquiry, appointed by 
the Caradoc Field Club go, six species only are concerned in 
producing it in the meres of Shropshire. It has been long known 
to botanists that both salt-water and fresh-water were coloured by the 
abundant growth of algae. The late Dr. Greville, in his “ Scottish 
Cryptogamic Flora,”* represents and describes Lyngbya prolifica , 
Grev. (plate 303), which imparted a rich purple colour to the water 
of Loch Hamming, Selkirkshire,, being “ extensively diffused, 
forming a floating stratum of a rich purple colour.” The plant 
had “ been remarked for a period of twelve to fifteen years, 
during which time it has gradually, but sensibly, extended itself. It 
now occupies a broad space around the margin, and resembles a 
bed of opaque bituminous-like scum.” Dr. Dickie, in his 
* “ Scottish Cryptogamic Flora,” by R. K. Greville, Edinburgh, 8vo, 
1823-1829. 
March, 1893. 
