Chapter XXII: Appendix: I. Observations on Fish-Guano (1)

“The importance of this field of industry has been fully appreciated in France, and a factory has been established at Concarneau, in the department of Finisterre. A full report of a visit to the factory having been made by the distinguished chemist M. Payen, and the well-known agriculturist M. Pommier, to the French Agricultural Society, we purpose presenting our readers with the chief points contained in that report, in the hope that another year may not pass over without some attempt of the like kind being made upon our coasts.

“The experiments which led to the establishment of the factory, of which we are now to speak, were made by a M. de Molon, and have extended over a period of four years. On several occasions he had employed the offal obtained in the preparation of sardines, on the coast of Brittany, to manure his land in Finisterre. The results which he obtained led him to imagine that this offal, and a multitude of marine fish of little commercial value, might furnish an important resource to agriculture. This fact, observed since a long time, especially in countries where deep-sea fishing is a permanent industry, was not new; but such a manure was by its very nature restricted to the agriculture of the coasts—fish or fish-offal not being capable of being economically transported more than short distances. It is also evident that these materials should be immediately employed—that they are not susceptible of preservation, and that the manure not admitting of being applied to the soil, except at certain seasons, it must at once be evident that the employment of fish-offal, spite of its richness in fecundating elements, could never be generalised, or offer large resources to agriculture.

“M. de Molon, however, conceived that a far vaster and more advantageous agricultural resource might be drawn from this inexhaustible wealth of the ocean, by so treating the offal of the coast fisheries, and the immense quantities of common fish which are of no use to the fishermen, as to ensure their preservation, concentrate their fecundatory properties, and render them as transportable as Peruvian guano—to do, in fine, what we have shown to be practicable in our former article.

“M. de Molon made a number of experiments from this point of view, and finally settled upon this plan: To boil the fish; to extract as much as possible of the water and oil which they contain; dry them and reduce them to powder. After he had obtained this powder in a perfectly dry state he had it analysed, first by M. Moride, at Nantes; then at Rennes, by M. Malaguti; and finally, by M. Payen, in Paris.

“These analyses, several times repeated, yielded as a mean the following percentage as results:—

Water 1·00
Nitrogenous organic matter 80·10
Soluble salts, consisting principally of chloride of sodium,
carbonate of ammonia, and traces of sulphate 4·50
Phosphate of lime and magnesia 14·10
Carbonate of lime 0·06
Silica 0·02
Magnesia and loss 0·22
—————-
100·00

“In other words, these repeated analyses indicate that dried fish-powder would contain about—

12 per cent of nitrogen, and 14 ” of bone earth—

that is to say, it would be nearly as rich as the best Peruvian guano. (According to the results of analyses made on herrings, an average manure made from that fish, and containing 10 per cent of water, would contain about 13½ per cent of nitrogen, and between 11 and 12 per cent of bone earth. The small fish containing but little bone earth accounts for the difference in both cases.) To the scientific analysis M. de Molon wished to add the sanction of practice; he applied 400 kilogrammes (880·8 lbs.) per hectare (2 acres, 1 rood, and 35 perches), or 3 cwts. 0 qr. 20 lbs. per statute acre, of the fish-powder, half in autumn and half in spring, as a top-dressing to wheat. The results which he obtained were so evident that his doubts were dissipated, his conviction became full and entire, and he resolved to make every effort to discover a means of rendering as economical as possible the manufacture of a manure equally powerful, and which should advantageously compete with Peruvian guano.

“Having made his calculations, his ideas were at once directed to Newfoundland, where the produce of the cod-fishery in a fresh condition amounts to more than 1,400,000 tons annually.

“The cod, previous to being salted and dried, is deprived of its head, its intestines, and the backbone, which together make about one-half of its total weight. This offal, which amounts to at least 700,000 tons, is thrown into the sea, or is lost without utility.

“In 1850 M. de Molon fitted out a vessel, and confided his project to one of his brothers, furnishing him with the utensils necessary to experiment upon and manufacture the fish-powder. The results of this voyage confirmed his anticipations, and M. de Molon junior brought back to France a certain quantity of fish-manure, which was found to be identical in composition with that manufactured in France.

“In 1851 M. de Molon junior again departed for Newfoundland, taking with him all the means of manufacturing, the materials necessary to construct a factory, and houses for one hundred and fifty workmen, whom he also took with him; finally, all the means necessary to found a permanent establishment. He fixed himself at Kerpon, at the extremity of the island, near the Strait of Belle-isle, on a creek which was visited every year by a great number of fishing vessels, and whose shores abound in fish. At present this establishment is in regular work, and has, we believe, sent within the last two or three months a considerable quantity of fish-manure to France.

“Whilst his younger brother was thus establishing himself in Newfoundland, M. de Molon wished to have in France an establishment of the same kind placed immediately under his own eyes, which would serve to perfect the process of manufacture, and offer to all the practical confirmation of facts, the importance of which had long since been indelibly fixed upon his own mind. It was at this epoch that M. de Molon associated himself with a M. Thurnyssen, who understood the vast field of enterprise which was thus opened up.

“This factory was erected by them at Concarneau, between Lorient and Brest, in the department of Finisterre. This is a mere fishing village, not far from the town of Quimper, containing scarcely two thousand inhabitants, and built upon a rock in the middle of a bay formed by the ocean. The catching and preparation of the sardine, which employs about three hundred to four hundred boats annually, is almost the only industry of the district, if we except a factory for the manufacture of iodine.

“The factory of MM. de Molon and Thurnyssen is placed at the end of the port, and the boats come and discharge their fish under its walls. In its actual condition this factory is capable of manufacturing daily about 4 to 5 tons of fish-manure, in a perfectly dry condition, which represents 16 to 20 tons of fish or of fish-offal in its fresh state. The proprietors receive all the offal of the curing-houses of Concarneau and those of Lorient; and in addition all the coarse fish which were previously thrown into the sea, or which were even abandoned on the very quays of Concarneau, to the great detriment of public health.

“The factory is entirely constructed of deal planks—that is to say, with all the economy possible, and contains the following articles of plant: A steam-engine of ten-horse power, and a boiler of eighteen-horse power; two boiling-pans _à la bascule_, with steam-jackets for boiling the fish at the temperature of a water bath; twenty-four screw presses to press the material when boiled; a rasp exactly similar to those employed in beet-sugar factories; a large stove; a Chaussenot’s coccle-furnace, for heating the stove; a conical iron mill, similar to a coffee-mill.

“The following is the mode of employing these various utensils: The fish or the offal is introduced by the upper part of the boiling-pans into the interior, one of which is capable of containing about 10 cwts., and the other from 16 cwts. to one ton. The vessel is then hermetically closed, and steam of about 50 to 55 lbs. pressure admitted into the steam-jacket, the steam-room of which is about two inches wide, and into a tube nearly eight inches in diameter, placed vertically in the interior of the pan. The boiling is completed in an hour; then by a simple movement the pan may be made to swing upon its bearings, the steam allowed to escape, and the cover being removed, the boiled fish is allowed to fall into a receptacle. Workmen then convey it in baskets to the presses placed alongside the boilers.

“The great difficulty was to find a means of submitting this fish-magma to the action of the press without losing the fine portions. This was accomplished in this way: Under each of the presses is placed a cylinder of sheet iron open at both ends, about twenty inches high, and twelve inches in diameter. This cylinder is strengthened by four small iron rings or hoops, and is pierced with a number of very fine holes. A loose bottom or wooden plate is fitted into this cylinder, which is then nearly filled with the boiled fish, and upon this is laid another plate of wood similar to the bottom. One or two blocks are then laid upon this cover, and when all the cylinders are filled, a man turns alternately the screw of each press. In proportion as the pressure operates, the water and oil contained in the fish is seen to exude from the perforations of the cylinder. These liquids flow into gutters which conduct them to a common channel by which they flow into barrels placed underneath, and so graduated that when the first is filled, the overflow passes into the second, and so on in succession, without the intervention of any workman. After reposing for some time, the oil floats on the surface, and is collected and stored in barrels in the cellar. The average quantity of fish-oil thus extracted represents very nearly 2½ per cent of the fresh fish.

“When the boiled mass is sufficiently pressed, the presses are loosened, and the cylinders removed and turned upside down, close to the reservoir, to allow any liquid which may have mounted to the surface to flow away; on then tapping the bottom wooden plate, the pressed mass may be taken out of the cylinder in the form of two compact cakes about four inches in thickness. These cakes are immediately conveyed by a workman to the hopper of the rasp, placed close at hand; this rasp, set in motion by the steam-engine, reduces the cakes to a sort of pulp, which is carried by children as fast as formed to the stove.

“The stove, situate on the first floor, is externally 20 metres long (65 feet 7½ inches), and 5 metres (16 feet 5 inches, nearly) wide; it is divided lengthwise into five chambers, 85 centimetres (2 feet 9½ inches, nearly) wide. Each of these chambers contains in its length twenty frames or trays, 1 metre (3 feet 3⅓ inches) long, and 85 centimetres (2 feet 9½ inches, nearly) wide, having a bottom of coarse linen. These trays rest upon two bars, which run the whole length of the chamber. Five series of such trays are superimposed in each chamber, which makes one hundred in each chamber, or five hundred in the whole stove. At each end of these chambers is a number of openings, which can be closed by a door; each opening corresponds with a series of trays.

“When the rasped fish-cake is put upon a frame, it is introduced into the stove through one of the openings just mentioned; a second is then introduced, which causes the first to slide along the bars; then a third, and so on until twenty have been placed. The second series of trays is then introduced in the same way by the opening next above. The operation is proceeded with in this way until the five series are introduced into each of the five chambers. It takes about two hours to two hours and a half to fill the stove with the five hundred trays which it is capable of receiving.

“A current of air heated by the coccle-oven of Chaussenot to a temperature of from 140° to 158° Fahr., circulates through the five chambers, according as each is filled with the trays of fish, the draft being maintained by a chimney.

“As soon as the last tray is introduced into the stove, the first is fit to be withdrawn. This is effected in the simplest manner; a child placed at one extremity of the stove introduces a tray freshly charged, this pushes without any effort the whole series ranged upon the bars, and causes the last in the series at the lower end of the stove to slide out, where it is received by another child; a fresh tray is again introduced, and another is pushed out, and so on for the whole stove. In this way the action of the stove is constant, being filled as fast as it is emptied, without the workpeople being exposed to the action of the heat, and without suffering in the least from it, and being nevertheless able to communicate to one another the details of the work, the chambers acting as conductors for the voice.

“This stove constitutes one of the most important features in the system of M. de Molon; it dries rapidly, regularly, and with comparatively small expenditure of heat, since 100 kilogrammes (220 lbs.) of coal a day are sufficient for heating the coccle; and the continuity of its action is perfect.

“According as the dried fish is withdrawn from the chambers it is thrown into a heap, on a board close by, from which it is put with a shovel into the mill-hopper by a child. The mill reduces it to a sufficiently fine and perfectly dry powder, which is at once put in sacks or casks, and sealed in order that there may be no means of adulterating it.

“To any one acquainted with the processes and machinery employed in the manufacture of beet-sugar, it will at once be evident that the organisation of the process just described was the result of an acquaintance with that manufacture. This is another instance of the benefits conferred upon France by the beet-sugar industry, for to that branch of manufacture it may be truly said to owe the rise of its present manufacturing system. A branch of industry requiring a combination of chemical and mechanical skill carried on in the midst of a rural population, especially if connected with agriculture, has far more influence upon the permanent prosperity of a people materially and intellectually, than the greatest branch of industry entirely confined to the civic population.

“To carry on all the operations just described, only six men are employed at Concarneau, who receive about 1s. a day, and ten children, who receive from sixpence to sevenpence. Under those conditions, and without working at night, this factory is capable, as we have already remarked, of producing from four to five tons of dry manure a day, representing about eighteen to twenty tons of fish or offal; that is, one hundred parts of fresh fish yield about twenty-two parts of fish-powder. By working at night, which will be done during the ensuing year, when the fishery shall have been better organised, this establishment will be able to produce from eight to ten tons of manure. M. de Molon estimates the number of days in the year during which the fishermen could fish at from 200 to 250. In only counting 200 working days, the establishment at Concarneau could thus produce from 1600 to 2000 tons of manure annually, which, at the rate of three cwts. per statute acre, would suffice to manure from 10,000 to 13,000 acres of land, and would represent, at 22 per cent of dried manure, a fishing of 9000 to 10,000 tons. The sardine-fishery and the offal of the curing-houses, formerly lost, would furnish about one-half of that quantity; but M. de Molon has pointed out a fact from which would appear to result the incontestable facility of obtaining at Concarneau far greater quantities of fish than those mentioned above, by the fishery of the coal-fish, which is sometimes found in immense quantities on the coast, but which the fishermen do not often take, as they could find no sale for them.

“The factory of Concarneau, with the organised fishery which M. de Molon intends to establish (sixty to seventy-eight well-equipped boats), and by doubling its present plant, which is also intended, will quadruple the quantity of dry manure which is now produced in working only ten hours per day.

“In addition to the 180 kilogrammes of coal burned in heating the stove, we may add that 130 more (286½ lbs.) are consumed by the steam-engine, making a total of 230 kilogrammes, or little more than four and a half cwts., or about one cwt. of coal to one ton of manure.

“The fish-manure fetches about 8s. per cwt. in the locality, and is eagerly sought after by the farmers, who expect the most signal results to agriculture from the extension of the manufacture; while the oil which, as already remarked, constitutes about 2½ per cent of the raw fish, would be worth from 3s. to 3s. 4d. per gallon. These figures show at once that the manufacture must be profitable—a fact which is fully guaranteed by Messrs. Payen and Pommier, who, as a commission sent from the Agricultural Society in order to report upon the project, had the privilege of examining the books of the concern, and of thus satisfying themselves of its commercial success.

“The factory of Concarneau, as we have already noticed, was only founded in order to serve as a model, not alone for those which may be established on different points of the French coast, but also in foreign countries. In addition to the factory established under the superintendence of M. de Molon junior, in Newfoundland, and which in its actual condition is capable of furnishing from 8000 to 10,000 tons of manure annually, it is proposed to establish others on the same coast, and also on the coasts of the North Sea, on such a scale as will furnish sufficient manure to completely replace the guano now imported from Peru.

“When we recollect what a large amount of offal has hitherto been wasted upon our coasts, the vast quantity of coarse fish which have been rejected and thrown again into the sea; but above all, when we consider the enormous extent of ocean, teeming with animal life, which has contributed so little to the sustenance of mankind, we cannot help thinking that at Concarneau has been laid the foundation of a great branch of industry, which is destined to renovate the worn-out soils of the richly-populated countries of Europe.”

II. LIST OF AUTHORITIES.

Having been frequently asked by correspondents for a list of the chief authorities on fish, I beg to subjoin the titles of a few of the works I have had occasion to consult while preparing this volume:—

A Review of the Domestic Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland, by Robert Fraser, Esq. Edinburgh, 1818.

A Short Narrative of the Proceedings of the Society appointed to manage the British White Herring Fishery, etc., by Thos. Cole. London, 1750.

A Treatise on Food and Diet, by Jonathan Pereira, M.D., etc., 1843. London: Longman and Co.

A Treatise on the Management of Fresh-Water Fish, by Gottlieb Boccius, 1841. London: Van Voorst.

An Account of the Fish-Pool, etc., by Sir Richard Steell. London, 1718.

An Account of Three New Specimens of British Fishes, by Richard Parnell, 1837. Royal Society, Edinburgh.

An Essay towards a Natural History of the Herring, by James Solas Dodd, Surgeon. London, 1752.

Angler’s and Tourist’s Guide, by Andrew Young, Invershin, 1857. A. and C. Black, Edinburgh.

British Fish and Fisheries. Religious Tract Society.

Ceylon, Notes on, by James Steuart, Esq. of Colpetty. Printed for Private Circulation, 1862.

Couch’s Fishes of the British Islands, 1865. Groombridge.

Directions for Taking and Curing Herrings; and for Curing Cod, Ling, Tusk, and Hake, by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. Edinburgh 1846.

Elements de Pisciculture, par M. Isidore L’Amy. Paris, 1855.

Evidence of the Royal Commission on the operation of the Acts relating to Trawling for Herring on the Coasts of Scotland. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. 1863.

Experimental Observations on the Development and Growth of Salmon Fry, etc., by John Shaw, 1840. Edinburgh: A. and C. Black.

Fish and Fishing in the Lone Glens of Scotland, by Dr. Knox, 1854. Routledge and Co.

Fish-Hatching, by Frank T. Buckland, 1863. Tinsley Brothers.

Fisheries, The, considered as a National Resource, etc., 1856. Milliken, Dublin.

Forrester’s Fish and Fishing in the United States, 1864. Townsend, New York.

Guide du Pisciculture, par J. Remy, 1854. Paris: Lacroix.

Guide Pratique du Pisciculture, par Pierre Carbonnier, 1864. Paris: Lacroix.

Herring-Fishery, on the Existing State of the, 1854. Herald Office, Aberdeen.

Howitt’s Angler’s Manual, 1808. Liverpool.

Ichthyonomy, 1857. Swinnerton and Brown, Macclesfield.

Illustrated London Almanac, 1864. London.

Irish Quarterly Review. W. B. Kelly, Dublin.

L’Alienation des Rivages, par M. Coste. Paris, 1863.

La Pêche en Eau Douce et en Eau Salée, par Alphonse Karr, 1860. Paris: Michel Levy Freres.

Letter to a Member of Parliament recommending the Improvement of the Irish Fishery. Dublin, 1729.

Multiplication Artificelle des Poissons, par J. P. J. Koltz. Paris: Lacroix.

Natural History and Habits of the Salmon, etc., by Andrew Young, 1854. Longman and Co.

Natural History of the Salmon, as ascertained at Stormontfield. By William Brown, 1862. Glasgow: Thomas Murray.

Naturalist’s Library, by Sir William Jardine, 1843. Edinburgh.

Notice Historique sur L’Etablissement de Pisciculture de Huningue, 1862. Strasbourg: Berger Levrault.

Note sur les Huitrieres Artificelles de Terrains Emergents, par M. Coste. Paris.

Observations on the Fisheries of the West Coast of Ireland, etc., by Thomas Edward Symons, 1856. London: Chapman and Hall.

Oyster, The, where, how, and when to find, breed, cook, and eat it. Trubner and Co.

Pisciculture, Pisciculteurs, et Poissons, par Eugene Voel, 1856. Paris: F. Chamerot.

Pisciculture et la Production des Sangsues, par Auguste Jourdier, 1856. Paris: Hatchette and Co.

Pisciculture et Culture des Eaux, par P. Trigneaux. Paris: Libraire Agricole de la Maison Rustique.

Pisciculture Pratique et sur l’Eleve et la Multiplication des Sangsues, par Quenard, 1855. Paris: De Dusacq.

Propagation of Oysters, by M. Coste and Dr. Kemmerer. Brighton, 1864. Pearce.

Proposals for Printing by Subscription a Complete Natural History of Esculent Fish, etc., by James Solas Dodd.

Report by the Commissioners for the British Fisheries of their Proceedings in the Year ended 31st December 1862, being the Fishing of 1862.

Ditto for the years 1863-64.

Reports of the Commissioners of Crown Lands of Canada, 1863-64-65.

Report of the Royal Commissioners on the operation of the Acts relating to Trawling for Herring on the Coasts of Scotland. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. 1863.

Salmon and other Fish, Propagation of, by Edward and Thomas Ashworth, 1853. E. H. King, Stockport.

Sea-Side and Aquarium, by John Harper, 1858. Nimmo, Edinburgh.

Sea-Side Divinity, by the Rev. Robert W. Fraser, M.A., 1861. J. Hogg and Sons.

Shetland, Description of the Island of, etc., 1753. James, London.

Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon, by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, 1861. London: Longman and Co.

The Field, the Country Gentleman’s Newspaper.

The Herring, its Natural History and National Importance, by John Mitchell, F.R.S., etc. Edinburgh, 1864.

The Interest of Scotland Considered, etc. Edinburgh, 1733.

The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained, etc., by Alexander Monro, M.D. Edinburgh, 1785.

The Young Angler’s Guide, etc., 1839. J. Cheek, London.

Tweed Fisheries Acts, 1857-59. Eyre and Spottiswoode.

Vacation Tourists, 1862-3. London: Macmillan, 1864.

Voyage d’Exploration sur la Littoral de la France et de L’Italie, par M. Coste. Paris, 1861, Imprimerie Impériale.

Yarrell’s British Fishes. London: Van Voorst.

⁂ Various numbers of _Macmillan’s Magazine_, the _Cornhill Magazine_, etc., have also been consulted, and quoted from, by permission of the publishers.

III. WICK HERRING HARVEST OF 1865.

┌───────┬──────┬───────┬───────┬────────┬────────┬─────────┬───────────┐
│Date. │ Boats│ Daily │ Daily │Season’s│Season’s│ Quality.│ Weather. │
│ │ out. │ Ave- │ catch.│average.│ catch. │ │ │
│ │ │ rage. │ Crans.│ Crans. │ Crans. │ │ │
│ │ │ Crans.│ │ │ │ │ │
├───────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┤
│Jun 23│ 19 │ 5 │ 97 │ 0 │ 126 │ Good │Wet. │
│ ” 24│ 14 │ ½ │ 7 │ 0 │ 133 │ Do. │Cold and │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ blowy. │
│ ” 27│ 25 │ 2 │ 50 │ 0 │ 183 │ Do. │Changeable.│
│ ” 28│ 25 │ 2 │ 50 │ 0 │ 233 │ Do. │Thick. │
│ ” 30│ 30 │ 6 │ 180 │ 0 │ 413 │ Do. │ Do. │
│July 1│ 34 │ 3 │ 102 │ ½ │ 515 │ Do. │Mild and │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ clear. │
│ ” 4│ 75 │ 0 │ 10 │ ½ │ 525 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 6│ 48 │ 0 │ 3 │ ½ │ 528 │ Do. │ Do.—rains.│
│ ” 11│ 120 │ 1¾ │ 188 │ ¾ │ 716 │Excellent│ Do. │
│ ” 12│ 200 │ ½ │ 100 │ ¾ │ 816 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 13│ 50 │ 1 │ 50 │ ¾ │ 866 │ Do. │Wet. │
│ ” 14│ 20 │ 1 │ 20 │ ¾ │ 886 │ Do. │Wet. │
│ ” 15│ 100 │ 0 │ 10 │ ¾ │ 896 │ Do. │Fine. │
│ ” 18│ 20 │ ½ │ 10 │ ¾ │ 906 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 19│ 30 │ 0 │ 0 │ ¾ │ 906 │ │ Do. │
│ ” 20│ 56 │ 0 │ 0 │ ¾ │ 906 │ │ Do. │
│ ” 21│ 120 │ ¼ │ 30 │ ¾ │ 936 │ Mixed │ Do. │
│ ” 22│ 200 │ 0 │ 20 │ ¾ │ 956 │ Do. │Mild. │
│ ” 25│ 500 │ 0 │ 40 │ 1 │ 996 │Excellent│Calm and │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ clear. │
│ ” 26│ 500 │ 0 │ 80 │ 1 │ 1,076 │ Large │ Do. │
│ ” 27│ 500 │ 0 │ 40 │ 1 │ 1,116 │ Mixed │ Do. │
│ ” 29│ 60 │ 2 │ 120 │ 1⅓ │ 1,236 │Excellent│Breezy. │
│Aug. 1│ 900 │ ¾ │ 750 │ 2 │ 1,986 │ Do. │Mild and │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ clear. │
│ ” 2│ 950 │ ½ │ 500 │ 2½ │ 2,486 │ Do. │Very wet. │
│ ” 3│ 970 │ ¾ │ 750 │ 3 │ 3,236 │ Do. │Heavy rain.│
│ ” 4│ 970 │ 1 │ 970 │ 4 │ 4,206 │ Do. │Calm. │
│ ” 5│ 970 │ 1 │ 970 │ 5½ │ 5,176 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 8│ 976 │ 2½ │ 2,440 │ 8 │ 7,616 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 9│ 970 │ 12 │11,640 │ 20 │ 19,256 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 10│ 976 │ 7 │ 6,832 │ 27 │ 26,088 │ Do. │Very clear.│
│ ” 11│ 970 │ 6 │ 5,820 │ 32½ │ 31,908 │¼ spent │Wet and │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ rough. │
│ ” 15│ 50 │ 1 │ 50 │ 32½ │ 31,958 │ Good │Very │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ rough. │
│ ” 16│ 900 │ ¼ │ 225 │ 33 │ 32,183 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 17│ 100 │ 1 │ 100 │ 33 │ 32,283 │ Spent │ Do. │
│ ” 18│ 930 │ 2 │ 1,860 │ 35 │ 34,143 │Excellent│Fine. │
│ ” 19│ 977 │ ½ │ 487 │ 35½ │ 34,630 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 22│ 977 │ 6 │ 5,862 │ 41½ │ 40,492 │ Do. │ Do. │
│ ” 23│ 977 │ 6 │ 5,862 │ 47½ │ 46,354 │¼ spent │Breezy. │
│ ” 24│ 977 │ 12 │11,724 │ 59½ │ 58,978 │⅓ spent │Mild. │
│ ” 25│ 977 │ 10 │ 9,770 │ 69½ │ 67,848 │¼ spent │ Do.—frost.│
│ ” 26│ 975 │ 8 │ 7,800 │ 77½ │ 75,648 │½ spent │Breezy— │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ rain. │
│ ” 29│ 977 │ 0 │ 10 │ 77½ │ 75,658 │ Good │ Do. │
│ ” 30│ 30 │ 0 │ 0 │ 77½ │ 75,658 │ │Rough— │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ rain. │
│ ” 31│ 200 │ ¼ │ 50 │ 77½ │ 75,708 │ Do. │ Do. │
│Sept. 1│ 500 │ 0 │ 0 │ 77½ │ 75,708 │ │Very │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ rough. │
│ ” 5│ 300 │ 0 │ 0 │ 77½ │ 75,708 │ │Changeable.│
│ ” 12│ 9 │ 1 │ 9 │ 77½ │ 75,717 │Excellent│Fine. │
│ ” 13│ 30 │ 1 │ 30 │ 77½ │ 75,747 │ Do. │Changeable.│
│ ” 14│ 50 │ 6 │ 300 │ 78 │ 76,047 │ Do. │Fine. │
│ ” 15│ 60 │ 0 │ 3 │ 78 │ 76,050 │ Do. │Changeable.│
└───────┴──────┴───────┴───────┴────────┴────────┴─────────┴───────────┘

_Northern Ensign._

IV. TOTAL CATCH OF HERRINGS AT ALL THE STATIONS ON THE NORTH-EAST
COAST DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

┌─────────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬———————-┐
│Stations. │ 1861. │ 1862. │ 1863. │ 1864. │ 1865. │
├─────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼─────———┤
│Wick │ 89,728 │ 90,644 │ 90,099 │ 90,033 │ 76,055 │
│Lybster, etc.│ 16,828 │ 17,150 │ 24,982 │ 19,120 │ 18,946 │
│Dunbeath │ 6,720 │ 6,162 │ 6,800 │ 5,248 │ 5,100 │
│Helmsdale │ 26,670 │ 26,500 │ 24,982 │ 29,120 │ 13,020 │
│Brora │ 1,620 │ 1,809 │ 1,554 │ 2,460 │ 1,225 │
│Cromarty │ 18,060 │ 11,232 │ 13,600 │ 15,000 │ 10,200 │
│Burghhead │ 7,920 │ 9,090 │ 10,320 │ 11,770 │ 10,580 │
│Hopeman │ 11,614 │ 9,686 │ 10,150 │ 5,824 │ 8,418 │
│Findhorn │ 1,080 │ 294 │ │ │ 560 │
│Lossiemouth │ 10,175 │ 10,881 │ 12,020 │ 5,985 │ 14,742 │
│Portgordon │ 2,783 │ 4,664 │ 4,312 │ 1,160 │ 800 │
│Portsoy │ 1,974 │ 3,290 │ 2,112 │ 920 │ 1,290 │
│Cullen │ 2,380 │ 4,200 │ 3,424 │ 1,320 │ 406 │
│Portknockie │ 2,691 │ 3,542 │ 3,092 │ 1,872 │ 2,695 │
│Findochty │ 2,660 │ 4,480 │ 3,752 │ 2,040 │ 1,900 │
│Portessie │ 1,881 │ 2,180 │ 1,350 │ 1,380 │ 1,320 │
│Buckie │ 5,320 │ 8,600 │ 8,249 │ 3,850 │ 7,700 │
│Whitehills │ 2,792 │ 4,753 │ 2,211 │ 1,200 │ 1,624 │
│Macduff │ 4,200 │ 7,884 │ 4,898 │ 2,400 │ 3,962 │
│Gardenstown │ 6,642 │ 12,908 │ 6,386 │ 2,948 │ 7,952 │
│Pennan │ 819 │ 1,215 │ 368 │ 265 │ 520 │
│Rosehearty │ 4,620 │ 7,828 │ 6,898 │ 4,602 │ 6,100 │
│Pitullie │ 1,720 │ 3,768 │ 1,500 │ 720 │ 1,980 │
│Fraserburgh │ 16,581 │ 42,944 │ 24,970 │ 26,793 │ 28,112 │
│Peterhead │ 32,600 │ 52,461 │ 31,535 │ 32,680 │ 35,741 │
│Boddam │ 5,890 │ 5,445 │ 4,680 │ 3,640 │ 5,358 │
├─────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼─────———┤
│ TOTAL │285,878 │353,610 │304,780 │272,350 │266,211 │
└─────────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴─────———┘

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF HANDS EMPLOYED—1865.

┌───────────┬──────────┬───────┬───────┐
│ │Fishermen.│Others.│ Total.│
├───────────┼──────────┼───────┼───────┤
│Caithness │ 6,500 │ 3,100 │ 9,600 │
│Sutherland │ 2,100 │ 1,500 │ 3,600 │
│Cromarty │ 1,200 │ 1,000 │ 2,200 │
│Moray │ 1,800 │ 1,200 │ 3,000 │
│Banff │ 1,800 │ 1,200 │ 3,000 │
│Aberdeen │ 3,800 │ 2,400 │ 6,200 │
├───────────┼──────────┼───────┼───────┤
│ TOTAL │ 17,200 │10,400 │27,600 │
└───────────┴──────────┴───────┴───────┘

INDEX.

A fishing “toon” described, 446.

A fishwife’s proverb, 425.

A lobster-spill in the Thames, 389.

A Member of Parliament on the fish supply, 67.

A widow’s story, 463.

About “natives,” 369.

Absurd statement about herring spawn, 236.

Absurdity of eating cod-roe, 291.

Across the Channel, 56.

Acclimatisation of fish, 125, 482.

Account of a fisherman’s wedding-dance, 421.

Account of the latest spawning season at Stormontfield, 108.

Adaptability of means to end in shell-fish, 384.

Admiration of Scottish pearls, 403.

Advance of money in the herring trade, 255.

Advantages of a close-time for oysters, 338.

Advantages of the tile system in oyster-culture, 363.

Advice to fishermen as to bait, 417.

Age at which oysters are sent to be greened, 360.

Age at which oysters are sent to market, 339.

Age of herring before they spawn, 237.

Aggregate sailings of the Wick boats, 279.

Agriculture in France, 77.

All fish unwholesome at time of spawning, 242.

Allston the London oyster-merchant, 373.

Ambition of fisher lads, 440.

America, oysters in, 380.

American pike, 143.

American sociality over oysters, 346.

Amount of attention required by a large oyster-farm, 365.

Ancient fishing industries, 40.

Ancient ideas as to fish, 8.

Ancient knowledge of the oyster, 333.

Anecdote of a minister’s visit to a fisherman, 432.

Anecdote of a London _litterateur_, 379.

Anecdotes of a fishwife, 428.

Angler-fish, 156.

Anglers’ fishes, 129, 137.

Anglers and angling, 132.

Angling all the year round, 132.

Angling localities, 137.

Angling in the Thames, 150.

Angling on the Tay, 212.

Angling sport in Scotland, 130.

Annual revenue of the river Tay fisheries, 213.

Annual sacrifice to crustacean gastronomy, 397.

Anomalies in salmon growth, 105, 180.

Antidote to enchantment, the fisherman’s, 435.

Antiquity of pearls, 398.

Apparatus for catching lobsters, 161.

Apparatus for pisciculture, 115.

Appendix, 491.

Approach of the herring season, 246.

Arcachon, Bay of, 365.

Are herrings of the same shoal all of the same age?, 238.

Are the pisciculturists robbing Peter to pay Paul?, 88.

Are there more fish in the sea than ever came out of it?, 474.

Arran, the island of, 165.

Arrival of salmon ova in Australia, 120.

Arctic Seas, no herrings in the, 231.

Artificial oyster-breeding, 350.

Artificial oyster-breeding in Marennes, 75.

Artificial spawning, 86, 87.

Art of dredging oysters, 378.

Art of shrimping, 396.

Art of trawling, 311.

Ashworth’s experiments, 117.

Ashworth’s opinion of oyster-culture, 354.

Attention required by an oyster-farm, 365.

Auchmithie, 444.

Auctioneers of fish, 437.

August herring-fishery at Wick, 280.

Authentic contradiction to Pennant’s theory, 231.

Authorities, list of, quoted, 499.

Avarice of salmon-fishery lessees, 200.

Average age at which salmon are killed, 207.

Average capture of herrings per boat in 1820, 279.

Average number of crans of herring taken by each boat in 1862, 276.

Average of oyster-reproduction at Re, 358.

Averages of the catch of herrings in 1862, 276.

Aversion of fisher-people to be counted, 453.

Awkward _contretemps_, 468.

Bad effects of trawling, 315.

Bag-nets, their baneful influence on the salmon-fisheries, 208.

Bain, Mr. Donald, on the salmon question, 222, 489.

Bait for line-fishing, 306.

Bait for lobsters, 385.

Bait for sea-angling, 158.

Bait, importance of cheap, 410.

Balance of nature, 33.

Bale in Switzerland, 80.

Bannock-fluke, the, 297.

Bargain-making by fishwives, 426.

Bargains made by boat-owners, 257.

Barnet, Mr., of Kinross, 140.

Barking trawlers, 309.

Barrack-life in Comacchio, 458.

Barrels, great numbers of, on the quays at Wick, 268.

Basins for the young fish at Huningue, 85.

Bass, the, of Lake Wennern, 125.

Battle of the swine at St. Monance, 434.

Bay of Aiguillon, 412.

Bay of the Departed, 455.

Bay of St. Brieuc, 351.

Beef, the stone-mason of the island of Re, 352.

Bell Rock, 444.

Benefits derived from a good fishery, 44.

Best conditions of fish for spawning, 341.

Best kind of boats for herring-fishing, 272.

Best kinds of fish to rear on the artificial plan, 97.

Best spawning-ground for herring, 238.

Best way of marking young salmon, 196.

Billingsgate, 65.

Billingsgate salesman’s, a, letter on trawling, 319.

Bird’s-eye view of Fusaro, 349.

Bit of dialogue, 470.

Black-beetle, a wonderful, 17.

Bloaters and red-herrings, 270.

Board of White Fisheries, 486.

Boat speculation by ship-carpenters, 441.

Bolam, evidence on trawling by Thomas, 314.

_Bouchots_ for growing mussels, 411.

Boulogne, 454.

Bounty given in the herring-trade, 255.

Brand, the, 263.

Breeding-ponds for salmon at Stormontfield, 99.

Breeding-pyramid for oysters, 350.

Brewing of oyster-spat, 337.

Brilliancy of fish-colour, 2.

British oyster-eaters, 345.

Brown, Mr. Wm., of Perth, on the salmon, 194.

Buckhaven, 438, 439.

Buckie, 466.

Buckie fishermen, 302.

Buisse, suite of ponds at, 93.

Burning the water, 204.

Business, how it is conducted at Re, 358.

Buist’s notes on Stormontfield, 111.

Buist’s opinions about the parr, 183.

Calculations as to herring increase, 7.

“Caller Ou,” 425.

Cancale, 58.

Cancale, the shell-middens of, 351.

Canoe used by the _boucholeurs_ of Aiguillon, 413.

Capital of French oysterdom, 352.

Caprice of the herring, 244.

Capturing herrings with a seine-net, 250.

Carlisle of Inveresk, Dr., 435.

Carp, 144.

Carp-breeding, 147.

Carp-ponds, 147.

Carriage of fish in France, cost of, 61.

Catch of herrings in 1862-63, 272.

Catching shell-fish, 385.

Causes assigned for caprice of herring, 244.

Cause of attraction to the male fish while spawning, 9.

Cause of the parr anomaly, 105.

Census of Fittie, 450.

Census of persons employed in the herring-fishery, 275.

Ceremonies among the eel-breeders of Comacchio, 459.

Ceremony of marriage among fishermen, 421.

Ceylon pearl-fishery, 398.

Chance fishing, 301.

Changes in the Crustacea, 392.

Character of the fisher-folk, 471.

Character of the Scottish fishwife, 324.

Charming May, 138.

Charitable fishery experiment, 388.

Charr, 153.

Cheek on angling, 135.

Chief British salmon-streams, 209.

Chief fishing-grounds in the North Sea, 306.

Chinese pisciculture, 69, 70.

Claires for greening oysters, 360.

Claires for oysters, view of, 357.

Clannishness of the fisher-folk, 481.

Classification of fish, 1.

Cleanliness of the Newhaven fisherwomen, 431.

Cleghorn, Mr. John, of Wick, on the herring, 231, 232.

Clements, John, of Hull, his evidence, 316.

Close-times for herrings quite possible, 242.

Close-time for lobsters in France, 391.

Close-time for oysters, 336.

Clyde, the river, 163.

Coarse work of the herring-gutters, 270.

Coast fishing-boats, 272.

Cod and haddock fishing very laborious, 301.

Codfish, number of eggs in a, 5.

Codfish, description of the, 291.

Codfish, how it grows, 31.

Cod-liver oil, 292.

Cod-roe at dinner, 243.

Coldingham fishermen, good behaviour of, 438.

Colne oyster-beds, 370.

Cold seasons unfavourable to oyster-breeding, 338.

Colour of fish, 2.

Comacchio, 19, 457.

Comacchio, drawing of a division of, 48.

Comfort of a fisherman’s dwelling, 430.

Commencement of the great gale on the Moray Firth, 324.

Commerce in fish, 34.

Commerce in herrings, 254.

Commerce in salmon, 198.

Commerce in shell-fish, 384.

Commercial value of salmon, 199.

Commissioners’ report on the herring-fishery for 1864, 275.

Common carp, 146.

“Commons,” in oyster nomenclature, 368.

Community of fishers at Fittie, 449.

Comparative tables of the fishery at Wick, 281.

Concluding remarks on the Fisheries, 474.

Conclusion, 490.

Condition of trawl-fish, 320.

Conditions under which the herring is found, 240.

Conduct of the white-fisheries, 301.

Connecticut, fish-manufactory in, 136.

Consumption of fish, 67.

Consumption of oysters in London, 373.

Contents of a dredge, 378.

Continental demand on our fisheries, 286.

Controversies about oyster life, 335.

Controversies about the salmon, 178.

Controversy about the parr, 181.

Controversy about the pearl rivers, 406.

Controversy among fishermen at Lochfyne, 250.

Controversy in Scotland as to fixed engines of salmon-capture, 206.

Conversation with a Strasbourg _pêcheur_, 88.

Cooking of pike, 143.

Cooking of oysters, 346.

Co-operation among fishermen, 309, 441.

Co-operation better than competition, 223.

Cornwall in the pilchard season, 251.

Coromandel oysters, 379.

Corry in Arran, view of, 171.

Coste, Professor, 76.

Coste’s, Professor, plan of oyster-culture, 347.

Coste’s recommendation to the French Government, 350.

Couch, Mr. Jonathan, on the food of the pilchard, 251.

Couch on the mackerel, 21.

_Couleur de rose_ statements as to the fisheries, 475.

Councillor Hawkins on the Colchester oyster, 370.

Course of the fisheries, 55.

Course of the herring-fishery, 229.

Course of oyster-farming, 365.

Course of work on the oyster-beds at Whitstable, 365.

Crab-catching, 386.

Cray-fish, 397.

Creel-hawking, 436.

Crustacean commerce, 387.

Cullercoats fisherman, evidence of a, 312.

Cultivating the mussel-farm, 413.

Cultivation of “natives,” 369.

Cultivation of our lochs, 140.

Culture of mussels, 410.

Culture of oysters, 346.

Culture of oysters, progress in, 354.

Culture of turtle on the artificial plan, 96.

Curing of cod in Scotland, 293.

Cure of herrings in Scotland, 1862-63, 273.

Curing pilchards, 253.

Curing sprats to be sold as sardines, 253.

Curious forms of fish, 3.

Curiosities of superstition at Newhaven, 433.

Daily statement of the number of herring-boats at Wick in 1862, 276.

Danube salmon, 89, 98.

Dates marking chief incidents of salmon life, 195.

Dealing in herrings, 254.

Decline of creel-hawking in Scotland, 443.

Decline of the cod-fishery, 303.

Decrease of the Scottish haddock-fishery, 318.

Decreasing size of haddocks, 315.

Dee salmon-fisheries, 112, 113.

Delineation of flat fishes, 297.

Demand for fish in Catholic countries, 277.

Demand for oysters, 373.

Demand for white fish, 286.

Dempster’s discovery of packing salmon in ice, 36, 202.

Departure of the herring-fleet from the Texel, 45.

Description of Auchmithie, 445.

Description of a drift-net, 248.

Description of a lobster-trap, 385.

Description of a mussel-farm, 412.

Description of a periwinkle, 384.

Description of a trawler, 309.

Description of green oyster-claires, 359, 360.

Description of Newhaven, near Edinburgh, 430.

Description of the lobster, 390.

Description of the oyster, 334.

Description of the pilchard-fishery, 252.

Design for a complete suite of salmon-ponds, 103.

Desire for more herring statistics, 283.

Destruction of young fish, 478.

Destructive power of the trawl-net, 308.

Development of the herring, 240.

Dexterity of the herring-gutters, 270.

Diagram of herring-netting and fish, 282.

Dialect of the Moray Firth fisher-folk, 469.

Dialogue between a fishwife and her customer, 427.

Differences in size, shape, and flavour of the herrings of different
places, 230.

Different countries must have different fishing seasons, 299.

Different kinds of cured herrings, 271.

Different kinds of sea-fish, 155.

Difficulties in the way of collecting spat, 362.

Difficulties of obtaining accurate information about the herring, 235.

Difficulty of obtaining statistics of fisheries, 66, 285.

Dimensions of the great _heer_, 228.

Diminution of lobsters, 318.

Discipline of Comacchio, 457.

Disparity in size of young salmon, 106.

Distinct races of herrings, 230.

Dish of crablets, 344.

Distribution of cured eels, 462.

Distribution of fish, 37.

Diving for pearls in Scotland, 407.

Division of labour in Fittie, 450.

Do fish live a separate life?, 9.

Does an oyster yield its young in millions?, 339.

Dogfish, diminution of, in 1862, 274.

Dogger Bank fishery, 303.

Doon pearl-fishery, 408.

Doon pearls inferior, 409.

Do the herring live singly up till the period of spawning?, 238.

Double migration of the salmon, 193.

Doubts as to former abundance of fish, 479.

Dr. Dod on the herring and sprat, 239.

Drawbacks to oyster-farming in France, 354.

Drawing of a two-year-old smolt, 189.

Drawings of the pearl-mussel, 399.

Dredging for oysters at Cockenzie, 377.

Dredging for pearls, 407.

Dress of a Newhaven fishwife described, 429.

Drift _versus_ trawl nets, 250.

Dunbar herring-fleet, 443.

Duke of Athole’s marked fish, 190.

Dutch fishing industry, 41.

Duties of fishermen, 490.

Duty charged on French fish, 61.

Duty of the coopers at the herring curing, 262.

Early fish commerce, 35.

Earnings of trawlers, 319.

Economy of the herring shoals, 277.

Edible Crustacea described, 391.

Edible molluscs, 384.

Edinburgh oyster-ploys, 345.

Edinburgh oyster-taverns, 345.

Eel-breeders, the, of Comacchio, 45.

Eel-cooking at Comacchio, 460.

Eel-curing at Comacchio, 461.

Eel-fair, 19.

Eel, the, 17.

Effects of the concentration of a thousand boats on one shoal of
herrings, 283.

Effects of a storm on the Moray Firth, 472, 473.

Effects of royal notice on the fishwives, 429.

Effects of the discovery of Mr. Dempster, 205.

Egg-boxes at Huningue, 83.

Egg-boxes at Stormontfield, 104.

Egg-laying by the hen lobster, 392.

Eggs of the salmon kind just hatching, 13.

Emotions of the first oyster-eater, 343.

Enemies of the salmon, 199.

Engaging of boats for the herring-fishery, 255.

English lakes, the, 153.

English river scenery, 148.

English salmon-fisheries, 217.

English trawl fishermen, 308.

Enterprise of the Scottish herring-curers, 259.

Enthusiasm of those concerned in the herring-harvest, 246.

Episode of a cradle, 468.

Erroneous information as to pearls, 409.

Estimated quantity of oysters in various stages of growth, 368.

Evidence on the trawl question, 312.

Exaggeration as to supplies of fish, 481.

Example of a well-managed salmon stream, 215.

Examples of nicknames among fishermen, 467.

Excess of herrings cured in 1862, 273.

Excitement on shore during a storm, 326.

Excitement on the coast during the herring season, 247.

Expense of forming an oyster-bank, 352.

Expenses of fishing-vessels, 310.

Experience as to the Tweed fisheries, 224.

Experiment in fructifying fish-eggs, 8.

Experiments in oyster-breeding in the Bay of St. Brieuc, 351.

Experiments in pearl-fishing in the Scottish lochs, 406.

Experiments with salmon ova in ice, 119.

Exportation of salmon ova, 119.

Exquisite flavour of the green oyster, 362.

Extension of legislation on the salmon question, 204.

Extension of pisciculture, 117.

Extension of the Scotch pearl-fishery, 402.

Extension of the salmon trade, 205.

Extent of business done in oysters at Whitstable, 366.

Extent of French fisheries, 91.

Extent of oyster-beds in the Firth of Forth, 375.

Extent of the Gadidæ family, 287.

Extent of the mussel-farm in the Bay of Aiguillon, 412.

Extent of the river Tay, 209.

Extent of trawling, 311.

Extraordinary scene on the river Doon, 404.

Exuviation of the lobster, 391.

Eyemouth, 438.

Fable, Italian, 452.

Facts of the herring question, brought out before the British
Association, 232.

Failure of the Ceylon pearl-fisheries, 400.

Faithfulness of salmon to their old haunts, 193.

Falling-off in the herring supply attributed to the trawl, 314.

Falling-off of certain rivers, 205.

Falling-off of oyster supplies in France, 347.

Fancy picture of the growth of a fishing hamlet, 419.

Fascines for oyster-breeding, 351.

Farms for oysters in Kent and Sussex, 366.

Faroe cod-banks, exhaustion of, 303.

Faversham oyster-grounds, 367.

Fearful scene, 329.

Feats performed by Fisherrow women, 435.

Fecundity of crabs, 383.

Fecundity of fish, 5.

Fecundity of lobsters, 383.

Fecundity of shell-fish, 383.

Feeding and digestive power of fish, 4.

Feeding-ground, influence of the, on fish, 29.

Fife, the coast of, 438.

Figures appertaining to herring-fishery of 1862-63, 273.

Figures illustrating the August herring-fishery at Wick, 280.

Figures of the Dutch fishery, 44.

Figures of the Wick catch of herrings, 279.

Findon, 448.

Fine flavour of the green oyster, 362.

Finesse by a fishwife, 427.

Finnan haddocks, 290, 448.

Firth-built fishing-boats, 440.

Firth of Forth whitebait, 24.

Fish auctioneers, 437.

Fish cadgers and hawkers, 442.

Fish-breeding in Norway, 75.

Fish-capture by line, 305.

Fish-commerce, 34.

Fish-commerce in France, 60.

Fish-communities, 295.

Fish-culture, 69.

Fish-culture in Italy, 71.

Fish-dinners, 23.

Fisher-folk’s philosophy of marriage, 431.

Fisher-folk, the, 418.

Fisheries of Holland, 44.

Fishermen’s antipathy to swine, 434.

Fishermen, differences of opinion among, 30.

Fishermen of Eyemouth, condition of the, 438.

Fishermen’s belief in luck, 257.

Fishermen’s children, 445.

Fishermen should grow their own bait, 147.

Fishermen’s nicknames, 466.

Fishermen’s wives, 323.

Fisher-names, 467.

Fisher-people’s notions of religious duty, 437.

Fisher-people the same everywhere, 418.

Fisherrow, 435.

Fisher weddings, 420.

Fishery statistics by a Buckhaven man, 442.

Fishes of the salmon family, 198.

Fish-guano, observations on, 491.

Fishing boats, best kind of, 272.

Fish insensible to pain, 3.

Fish labyrinth at Comacchio, 46.

Fish life and growth, 1.

Fishmarket at Bale, 81.

Fish-offal as manure, 331.

Fish-poachers, 135.

Fish-ponds, 38.

Fish quite local, 482.

Fish-shoal, growth of, 32.

Fish-table, 300.

Fish-tithe riots at Eyemouth, 438.

Fishwives at church, 428.

Fishwives’ finesse in bargaining, 427.

Fishwives of Newhaven, 424.

Fishwives of Paris, 456.

Fittie, 449.

Fixed engines of capture, 205, 206.

Flat fish, 156.

Flat fish consumed in London, 298.

Flat fish family, the, 297.

Flavour of different herrings, 230.

Flavour of fish, 28.

Floating with the tide, 266.

Fluctuation in the take of herrings at Wick, 232.

Fondness for dancing of the fisher-people, 421.

Fondness of gannets for herring, 283.

Food of the herring, 243.

Food of the mussel, 414.

Food of the oyster, 361.

Food of the salmon, 192.

Footdee or Fittie, 449.

Forbes Stuart and Co.‘s tables of the London salmon supply, 221.

Foresight of the oyster, 342.

Former abundance of fish doubted, 479.

Former scarcity of the haddock, 288.

Forming an oyster-farm, 355.

Foul salmon at Billingsgate, 204.

Four years’ work at oyster-farming, 356.

France, fishing industry in, 58.

Francis Sinclair, a herring-fisherman of Wick, 265.

Free Dredgers’ Company at Whitstable, 366.

Free fisheries a mistake, 489.

Free oyster-grounds, 368.

French boats interfering with the fishery, 318.

French fishwoman, 454.

French foreshores, industry on, 57.

French legend, 455.

French North Sea fisheries, 59.

French oyster-eaters, 344.

Frequent examination of oysters at Whitstable, 369.

Fresh herrings, 258.

Fresh-water fish, commerce in, 35.

Fresh-water fish not of much food value, 129.

Friday an unlucky day, 433.

From the parr to the smolt, 187.

Full _versus_ shotten herrings, 241.

Functions of the Board of Fisheries, 486.

Fusaro, Lake, 348.

Future of the fisheries, 481.

Galbert’s trout establishment, 92.

Gadidæ, 285.

Gadidæ family, the, 289.

Galway fisheries, 117.

Gathering-in of the boats to the herring-fishery, 246.

Gathering the mussel-harvest in Aiguillon, 413.

General machinery of fish-capture, 304.

Geographical distribution of the herring, 234.

Geographical distribution of the oyster, 379.

Geologists’ paradise, 164.

George the Fourth’s fondness for Finnan haddocks, 448.

German pisciculture, 98.

Gipsy anglers, 135.

Glen Sannox, 175.

Glut of herrings at Billingsgate, 258.

Goatfell, 165.

Golden carp, 140, 145.

Gold-fish in factory ponds, 145.

Government by gyneocracy, 426.

Gravid salmon, treatment of, 114.

Great haul of salmon on the Thurso, 205.

Great storm on the Moray Firth, the, of 1857, 327.

Greed of Scottish dredgermen, 375.

Green oysters, 359.

Grieve, Mr., of the Café Royal, Edinburgh, 288.

Grilse growth, 191.

Grilse and smolt, 187.

Ground-plan of fish laboratory at Huningue, 82.

Ground suitable for breeding and fattening oysters, 361.

Group of Newhaven fishwives, 424.

Growth of a fishing village, 419.

Growth of a fish-shoal, 32.

Growth of fish, 1.

Growth of salmon ova, 12.

Growth of the mussel in the Bay of Aiguillon, 415.

Growth of the oyster-park system, 353.

Growth of the young salmon in Australia, 123.

Guano, fish, observations on, 491.

Gulf of Manaar pearl-fisheries, 400.

Gulf of St. Lawrence, 310.

Gunther’s opinion of the _Silurus glanis_, 126.

Gutters for hatching purposes at Huningue, 86.

Gutters of herring, 269.

Habits and character of the Fittie people, 451.

Habits of fish, 316.

Habits of the haddock, 289.

Habits of the pearl-oyster, 401.

Haddock, the, 287.

Haddocks, former scarcity of, 288.

Haddocks, where are they?, 30.

Half-decked boats, 307.

Happy fishing-grounds, 367.

Harbours, 302.

Harbour accommodation, want of, in Scotland, 272, 321.

Harvest of eels at Comacchio, 459.

Hashing of young fish not peculiar to the trawl, 320.

Has the oyster eyes?, 335.

Hatching of salmon, 11.

Hauling in the nets, 266.

Hawkers of fish, 442.

Hearing power of fish, 4.

Herring-buss, cost of, 51.

Herring-commerce, 254.

Herring-curing, 260.

Herring-fishing at Wick in August, 280.

Herring fishing at Wick in September, 281.

Herring, growth of the, 237.

Herring harvest, the, 263.

Herrings, calculations as to size of a shoal of, 6.

Herring spawn, 14.

Herring spawn offered for manure, 313.

Herring, the, described, 226.

Herring, the, its natural and economic history, 226.

Herring, the, shoals at Wick, 278.

Hints to the oyster-farmers, 364.

History of the herring-fishery, 49.

Hired hands at the herring-fishery, 248.

Hole Haven in Essex, lobster-stores at, 389.

Holibut, 295.

Homeward bound, 267.

Hooks, number of, on a fishing-line, 305.

How a fish breathes, 1.

How cod are cured, 293.

How does an oyster lie on its bed?, 335.

How long do herrings take to grow?, 236.

How the herrings are manipulated on arrival, 269.

How the herring-nets are worked, 249.

How the salmon-poachers proceed to work, 203.

How to buy and sell fish, 427.

How to catch cray-fish, 397.

How to angle in the sea, 159.

How to find out a false pearl, 410.

How to mark smolts, 196.

How to test a pearl, 410.

How to open the pearl-mussel, 408.

Hull trawlers, 309.

Huningue described, 82-85.

Huningue, difficulty of finding it, 80.

Ignorance of naturalists and fishermen, 287.

Ile de Re, 352.

Illustrations of oyster-growth, 338, 339.

Imitation by fishermen of marked salmon, 197.

Importance of cheap bait, 410.

Impossibility of catching spawn in the trawl-net, 317.

Impregnation of fish-eggs, 7.

Improvement in the manufacture of herring-nets, 278.

Improvement of Scottish fishing-boats, 307.

Improvement of the salmon-fisheries, 224.

Increase in the quantity of netting used at the
herring-fishery, 277, 278.

Increase of boats and fishermen, 313.

Increase of the enemies of the herring, 242.

Increase of the herring, 7.

Incubation-hall at Huningue, 84.

Incubation of oyster-ova, 337.

Industry of the women at Auchmithie, 447.

Industry at Fisherrow, 436.

Industry of Buckhaven men, 439.

Industry of fishwives, 425.

Inferiority of Doon pearls, 409.

Information about the fisher-folk, 422.

Information as to the colour and structure of pearls, 409.

Information for pearl-seekers, 408.

Information for the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 376.

Instinct of the salmon for change, 188.

Interior of a fisherman’s house, 430.

Introduction into British waters of strange fishes, 482.

Invention of mussel-culture, 410.

Inventor of the first oyster-pond, 343.

Investigation by the Town Council of Edinburgh into the state of
their oyster-beds, 376.

Irish and Welsh pearls, 407.

Irish fish-carriage, 63.

Irish haddocks, 289.