106 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX.
brood after brood of young swans, a proof that here also it
grows to a formidable size. Mr. Alfred Jardine captured one
weighing 3olbs., on 22nd November, 1896, at Dagenham
(Badminton Mag., 1897, p. 628).
Family SCOMBRESOCIDAE, Day.
Genus Belone, Cuv.
Belone vulgaris, Fleming. Gar-fish. Locally, Gorebill.
Large numbers of this are taken at certain seasons round
the coast, and they meet with a ready sale in London. Their
peculiar green bones have not a tempting appearance, and I
have no doubt prevent their being so generally appreciated as
otherwise they would be.
Family SILURIDAE, Gunth.
Genus SILURUS, Linn.
Silurus glanis, Linn. Sheat Fish, or Wels.
The following note, from the pen of Dr. Gunther (Field,
September 8th, 1894, p. 411), relates the capture of one of this
species in Essex waters :
"Sir,—Some thirty years ago, in the time of the Society of
Acclimatisation, the proposal to introduce into Great Britain the
Silurus or Wels of Central Europe was discussed in The Field.
The suggestion did not meet with general approbation. The
fish was described as an ugly-looking brute, a sort of fresh water
shark, lurking among the bottom weeds, destroying a vast quantity
of fish, and affording no sport When it became known, on the
authority of an ancient chronicler, that the remains of a boy had
once been taken from the stomach of a Wels, the report was conclu-
sive as to the extreme undesirability of such an addition to the
British fauna.
Perhaps it is just as well for the peace of mind of those who hold
pessimistic views on the character of the Silurus, that they lived in
ignorance of the fact that, all this time, individuals of this