THE HERRING FAMILY. 423 



and is otherwise distinguished from both by a number of 

 markings on the gill-cover, by the large scales and the position 

 of the dorsal fin. 



The development of the pilchard has not been followed at 

 St Andrews, for it is many a year since pilchards were found in 

 any abundance off the east coast of Scotland ; in obedience to 

 some natural laws, of which we know nothing, this fish has 

 disappeared from our shores. Parnell, writing in 1838, remarks 

 that ' the pilchard has become a very rare fish in the Firth of 

 Forth as well as along the whole eastern line of Scottish shores.' 

 Few appear to have occurred since 1816. 



Under these circumstances we must seek the annals of the 

 southern naturalists for data with regard to its development, 

 and in doing so we encounter considerable diversity of opinion, 

 even with regard to the facts. Couch, writing in 1865, says 

 that, ' In April and May they are habitually prepared to shed 

 their spawn, which they now do at a further distance from land 

 and even deeper water than is the case at the warmer season of 

 autumn, when again, early or later, they perform the same 

 function, although we do not feel assured that they are the 

 same fishes which thus perform the duty of procreation on both 

 occasions.' Mr M. Dunn, a practical fisherman of the south- 

 west coast and a careful observer, gives a spawning-period of 

 May and June and again in December. 



These two observers agreed in regarding the pilchard as 

 having two spawning-seasons in the year, as is also the case 

 with its close ally the herring (see Herring). Day, as narrated 

 in his work upon British Fishes, states that he opened and 

 examined a great number of pilchards in August and in only a 

 single instance did he find ripening ova an observation which 

 tends towards the view that Couch in stating the second 

 spawning-season to be in October placed it rather too soon, and 

 it also appears to militate very strongly against the opinion, held 

 by some, that the pilchard spawns continuously from April to 

 December. Cornish has put forward reasons for supposing that 

 this fish spawns during the mackerel-season, namely, from 

 February to June. 



Prof. Marion at Marseilles finds that the sexual organs ripen 



