THE HERRING. 447 



Finally, there is no evidence that herrings are to be met with in the 

 extreme north of their range, at other times, or in greater abundance, 

 than they are to be found elsewhere. 



In the matter of its migration, as in other respects, the herring 

 comjDares best with the salmon. The ordinary habitation of both fishes 

 is no doubt the moderately deep portion of the sea. It is only as the 

 breeding-time draws near that the herrings (not yet advanced beyond 

 the matie state) gather together toward the surface and approach the 

 land in great shoals for the purpose of spawning in relatively or abso- 

 lutely shallow water. In the case of the herring of the Schlei we have 

 almost the connecting link between the exclusively marine ordinary 

 herring and the river-ascending salmon. 



The records of tHe herring-fisheries are, for the most part, neither 

 very ancient nor (with the exception of those of the Scotch Fishery 

 Board) very accurately kept ; and, from the nature of the case, they 

 can only tell us whether the fish in any given year were readily taken 

 or not, and that may have very little to do with the actual strength of 

 the shoals. 



However, there is historical evidence that, long before the time of 

 Henry I, Yarmouth was frequented by herring-fishers. This means 

 that, for eight centuries, herrings have been fished on the English 

 coast, and I can not make out, taking one year with another, in recent 

 times, that there has been any serious fluctuation in their numbers. 

 The number captured must have enormously increased in the last two 

 centuries, and yet there is no sign of diminution of the shoals. 



lu 1864 we had to listen to dolorous prophecies of the coming ex- 

 haustion of the Scotch herring-fisheries. The fact that the returns 

 showed no falling off was ascribed to the improvement of the gear and 

 methods of fishing, and to thie much greater distances to which the 

 fishermen extend their operations. Yet what has really happened ? 

 The returns of subsequent years prove, not only that the average cure 

 of the decade 1869-'T8 was considerably greater than that of the pre- 

 vious decade, but that the years 18T4 and 1880 are absolutely without 

 parallel in the annals of the Scotch herring-fishery, 1,000,000 barrels 

 having been cured in the first of these years, and 1,500,000 in 1880. 

 In the decade 1859-'68, the average was 670,000 barrels, and the high- 

 est 830,000. 



In dealing with questions of biology, a priori reasoning is some- 

 what risky, and, if any one tells me " it stands to reason " that such 

 and such things must happen, I generally find reason to doubt the 

 safety of his standing. 



It is said that " it stands to reason " that destruction on such a pro- 

 digious scale as that effected by herring-fishers must tell on the supply. 

 But again let us look at the facts. It is said that 2,500,000,000, or 

 thereabout, of herrings are every year taken out of the N^orth Sea and 

 the Atlantic. Suppose we assume the number to be 3,000,000,000, so 



