NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 143
the county, if well looked for ; Dr. Laver has found it abundantly in a pond of
Donyland Heath. As pointed out in the above quoted note, the absence on
pigment on the throat affords a ready means of distinguishing M. palmata
from M. vulgaris, independently of the other and better known characters.—
William Cole, Buckhurst Hill, Essex.
PISCES.
Blennius gattorugine in Essex.—In the Zoologist for June (4th ser.,
vol. iii., p. 273), Mr. A. Patterson records the capture of this species at Great
Yarmouth, for the first time in East Anglian waters. It measured 4m. in length,
and the fish "was not at all highly coloured, as depicted by Couch, but was
of a dull tawny or yellow-brown, the edges of the fins being of a ruddy hue.
Day speaks of it as being subject to variation, according to locality, and, no
doubt, on our sandy coast, such a stray fish would assume more sober tints
than in its native rocky habitat." At page 326 of the same volume, Mr.
E. A. Fitch reports that he has one caught in the Essex Blackwater, off
Stansgate, on August 19th, 1898, by Sampson Wright. He adds, "it is typical
with Day's figure and description, and measures 51/2in. long. I have it pre-
served in 4 per cent. formalin, and it looks as fresh as when I had it alive."
The Editor of the Zoologist remarks on the above as follows :—"The
Gattorugine, known to fishermen in the West of England by the homely
appellation of Tompot (Couch) has been recorded from the north-east coast
included in Sir Cuthbert Sharp's List of Hartlepool Fishes ;' cf. R. Howse,
' Cat. Fishes of the Rivers and Coast of Northumberland and Durham,' p. 25.
It is reported as lying concealed in pools among long seaweeds, where it is
probably often overlooked.''
Angling in the Lea River half a century ago.—Mr. Francis Howse,
Hon. Secretary of the Amwell Magna Fishery, has kindly presented to our
library a copy of a pamphlet which he has prepared and printed for private
circulation, being a record of notable fish taken in this famous fishery by
members and their friends between 1851 and 1871, and based upon a diary
kept by the late Robert Brown, the keeper. The fish mentioned are jack,
roach, trout, gudgeon, perch, carp, chub, tench, and rudd, the last three very
rarely. The Fish Editor of the Field has given the following analysis of the
record :—"The falling off in late years in the numbers and weight of jack is
attributed, to a great extent, to the smaller volume of water in the old Lea
River, caused partly by a more efficient system of land drainage, and partly by
the large quantity of water drawn off by the Companies. To these causes
must also be added the strenuous efforts made to reduce the pike in the New
River. It must be also remembered that, during the twenty years under
review, there were only fourteen members, and that for some years that
number has been increased to twenty-five."
"The large and always specifically handsome trout of the Lea (as they
remain to this day) appear in the earliest of the records, not, of course, i
quantity, but at fairly frequent intervals. Mr. T. Howse, the well-remem-
bered father of the editor of this memorial, was one of the most successful
pike fishers from the fifties onwards. The best season for pike during the
twenty years covered by the entries was apparently that of 1860-1, when 951/2