WHITEBAIT. 203 



November, when the Whitebait season is over; and these 

 young Shad are never without a portion of that spotted ap- 

 pearance behind the edge of the upper part of the operculum, 

 which in one species particularly is so marked a peculiarity 

 in the adult fish. The Whitebait, on the contrary, never 

 exhibits a spot on the side at any age ; but from two inches 

 long up to six inches, which is the length of the largest I 

 have seen, the colour of the sides is uniformly white. 



About the end of March or early in April, Whitebait 

 begin to make their appearance in the Thames, and are then 

 small, apparently but just changed from the albuminous 

 state of very young fry.* During the fine weather of June, 

 July, and August, immense quantities are consumed by 

 visiters to the different taverns at Greenwich and Black wall. 

 Pennant says, " They are esteemed very delicious when fried 

 with fine flour, and occasion during the season a vast resort 

 of the lower order of epicures to the taverns contiguous 

 to the places where they are taken." What might have 

 been the particular grade of persons who were in the habit 

 of visiting Greenwich to eat Whitebait in the days when 

 Pennant wrote, I am unable to state ; but at present, the 

 fashion of enjoying the excellent course of fish as served up 

 either at Greenwich or Blackwall is sanctioned by the high- 

 est authorities, from the court at St. James's Palace in the 

 West, to the Lord Mayor and his court in the East, includ- 

 ing the Cabinet Ministers-f- and the philosophers of the Royal 

 Society. As might be expected, examples so numerous and 

 influential have corresponding weight ; and accordingly there 



* The Shad do not deposit their spawn till the end of June or the beginning 

 of July. 



t In the Morning Post of the clay on which this account of the Whitebait 

 was written, September 10th, 1835, the following paragraph appeared: 



" Yesterday the Cabinet Ministers went down the river in the Ordnance 

 barges to Lovegrove's West India Dock Tavern, Blackwall, to partake of 

 their annual fish dinner. Covers were laid for thirty-five gentlemen." 



