FOOD OF THE HERRING. 563 



Passamaquoddy Bay. One principal spawning ground of the Herring in the Bay of Fundy, is 

 near the southern head of Grand Menan; and by a very wise provision of the New Brunswick 

 Government, a close time was many years ago enacted, extending from the 15th of June to the 15th 

 of September, during which the capture of these fish was forbidden. They now resort to that 

 port ion of the coast in considerable numbers, and the quantity of eggs deposited is said to bo 

 something almost inconceivable. 



"The spawning season, too, appears to be later and later as we proceed westward from Maine. 

 Thus, allowing it to be at its height there in the beginning of August, 1 it occurs in September oil' 

 the coast of Maine, and in October off Eastern Massachusetts; in November at Cape Cod, and in 

 December at Xoman's Land and Block Island; possibly still later farther south. 



"The eggs are minute, less in size than those of the shad, and adhere when discharged to 

 rocks, seaweed, etc., being scattered singly or in bunches over a vast extent of sea bottom. I 

 have frequently brought them up at various depths and at a considerable distance from the shore, 

 off Grand Menan.'' 2 



ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF THE HERRING. In the spring of 1878 the first successful 

 experiments in the artificial propagation of Herring were carried on in Germany by Dr. H. 

 A. Meyer, of the Commission for Scientific Investigation of the German Seas at Kiel, and in 

 the fall of the same year by Mr. R. E. Earll, of the United States Fish Commission, at Glouces- 

 ter. A translation of Dr. Meyer's paper may be found in part vi, United States Fish Com- 

 mission Report, pp. 029-G3S, and a brief summation of Mr. Earll's experiments in the same 

 volume, pp. 727-7-9. 



FOOD. Much has been written upon the food of the Herring, but the following translation 

 from an article in "Die Natur," No. 47, 1869, gives in a very satisfactory manner recent views 

 of European authorities upon the subject: 



"Of the various fishes that inhabit the waters, few have, perhaps, more direct bearing 

 upon the prosperity of the maritime people of the north than the sea Herring; the shores of 

 both hemispheres being visited regularly by countless myriads that furnish an inexhaustible 

 source of food. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the attention of fishermen, as 

 well as statesmen and political economists, has been directed to the different questions con- 

 nected with the migrations and preservation of these fish, and that much research should have 

 been expended in determining various points connected with their history. Until quite 



1 A largo school of Herrings appears annually in the vicinity of Boisbobert Islnucl, in Eastern Maine, off Millbridge, 



where they spawn on the rocky bottom. R. E. EAKLL. 



A visit in 1^72 to the Southern Head of Grand Menan, during the spawning season of the Herring, enabled 

 my assistant, Dr. Palmer, to obtain a very interesting series of eggs and youug by using the dredge, the eggs being 

 found at low water, from near the shore, out to a distance of several miles. 



Overall extended area, whenever any gravel, stones, or sea-weed were brought up with the dredge they were 

 found to lie thickly dotted over with these eggs, sometimes single, at others in clusters. 



It would appear that in the operation of exclusion, the eggs fall away into the water in masses varying in 

 size, although in no instance was ihe mi ire .-pawning of any one lish observed in a single ma-s. The largest aggre- 

 galimis consisted of masses of the size of a hazel-nut. Sometimes these heat up and separate- entirely. The eggs 

 wen' very minute, not largrr'than No. 7 shot, and when taken up nearly all the eggs contained embryos, of which the 

 eyes wore very large and distinct. The eggs appear to sink to the bottom if not laid there originaAy. and to adhere 

 at once to adjacent objects. A c:. refill straining of thr. Mirface- water and down to a considerable depth wilh the 

 towing-net, or hand gauge-net, bnmuht up no floating < 



A large number of . brought over to East port in sail water and a considerable nil in I per of these hatched 



out on I he way, during an interval of a lew hour.-, and many i.lhers he, ai levelnped soon al'h i I In -\ wen- brought. 



ashore. All I lie einlin os had lel't their en\ . lope.; by tin- next morning. The yonni; con hi be di-t inct ly 30611 in.- ' 

 the egg, and when this was ruptured they were extremely active in their movi-mi-nls through ihe water, springing 

 up and down and crosswise, wriggling precisely like the. larvas of a dipterous insect. Their lengih at tin- unn as 

 about Ihiriy on'--hnndn-dtlis of an inch, some few being larger and others rather smaller. 



