562 NATURAL HISTOEY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Herring lives on very much the same food as a smolt, it appears possible that it should increase 

 in the same rapid ratio. Under these circumstances nine months would be ample time for it to 

 enlarge from three to ten or eleven inches in length. It may be fairly argued, however, that it is 

 not very safe to reason analogically from the rate of growth of one species of fish to that of 

 another; and it may be well to leave the question whether the Herring attains its maturity in 

 twelve, fifteen, or sixteen months open, in the tolerably firm assurance that the period 'last named 

 is the maximum.' 



"On comparing these conclusions with the results of the careful observations of the Baltic 

 commissioners, it appears that we somewhat overestimated the rate of growth of the young 

 Herring, and that the view taken by Yarrell and MitchiLl is more nearly correct. For, supposing 

 that the rate of growth after six months continues the same as before, a Herring twelve months 

 old will be nearly six inches long, and at eighteen mouths eight or nine inches. But full Herrings 

 may be met with little more than seven inches long, and they are very commonly found not more 

 than nine inches in length. 



"Herrings which have attained maturity, and are distended by the greatly enlarged milt or 

 roe, are ready to shed the contents of these organs, or, as it is said, to spawn. In 1802 we found 

 a great diversity of opinion prevailed as to the time at which this operation takes place, and we 

 took a great deal of trouble to settle the question, with the result which is thus stated in our 

 report: 'We have obtained a very large body of valuable evidence on this subject, derived partly 

 from the examination of fishermen and of others conversant with the herring fishery; partly from 

 the inspection of the accurate records kept by the fishery officers at different stations, and partly 

 from other sources; and our clear conclusion from all this evidence is, that the Herring spawns at 

 two seasons of the year, in the spring and in the autumn.' 



"The milt and roe are elongated organs attached beneath the air-bladder, which lie one on 

 each side of the abdominal cavity, and open behind the vent by an aperture common to the two. 

 The spermatic fluid of the male is developed in the milt and the eggs of the female in the roe. 

 These eggs, when fully formed, measure from one-sixteenth to one twenty-fifth of an inch in 

 diameter; and as, in the ripe female, the two roes or ovaries stretch from one end of the abd' minal 

 cavity to the other, occupying all the space left by the other organs, and distending the cavity, 

 the number of eggs which they contain must be very great; probably ten thousand is an under- 

 estimate of the number of ripe eggs shed in spawning by a moderate sized female Herring. But I 

 think it is safer thnn the thirty thousand of some estimates, which appear to me to be made in 

 forgetfulness of the very simple anatomical considerations that the roe consists of an extensive 

 vascular framework as^well as of eggs; and, moreover, that a vast number of the eggs which it 

 contains remain immature and are not shed at the time of spawning." 1 



Professor Baird, in 1877, wrote as follows concerning the spawning habits of the Herring on 

 our own coast: 



"In the Bay of Saint Lawrence they appear to spawn in the spring, especially in the vicinity 

 of the Magdalen Islands, the fishes there taken being ripe with eggs. At that time they come so 

 close to the laud as to permit their capture in immense numbers in seines. It is also thought that 

 a so called school spawns in the spring in the Bay of Fuudy, from the head to the mouth. Such 

 a spawning ground is believed to exist in the Bay of Saint Andrew's, and in certain portions of 



'Tho observations of Mr. Kuril at Easlport indicate that in his opinion none of the Herrings used in the sardine 

 luitorics are old enough to show any trnrrs of developing spawn, although there can he no douht that they are. not 

 less than a year old. The lish upon which his observations were made were taken in September, and must have been 

 hatched as early as the September of the preceding year. 



