THE NORWEGIAN HERRING-FISHERIES. 109 



of herring, which, as they thought, had risen from the bottom of tbe 

 sea in order to move toward the coast. Some fishermen also showed 

 him herring which had been cast on deck by the waves. Boeck is dis- 

 posed to concur in Nilson's opinion that the herring never makes long 

 journeys, but that that school, which, during the time of the southern 

 herring-fishery seeks the coast of Norway, keeps out in the deep near 

 that coast. Cuvierand Valenciennes are of the same opinion, for they 

 have, as already mentioned, proved that on the northern coast of France, 

 two species of herring are found not very far aparr, which are easily 

 distinguished from each other in the Paris fish-market. These herring 

 are brought to Paris from two villages on the coast adjacent to each 

 other, and they are never mistaken for each other. Their abodes are 

 two different basins near the coast. 



Bceck then proceeds to speak of tbe causes which impel the herring 

 to approach the shore. It is well known that it comes there to spawn ; 

 and daring the spring-fisheries the largest number caught are herring 

 about to spawn. The stomach of the herring is empty during this whole 

 period, so that it evidently cannot be its intention to seek food at that 

 time. Its desire to propagate dominates for the time being over all other 

 desires, and it seeks places against which it can press its abdomen, and 

 thus make the spawn flow more readily. • It does not at all avoid the 

 nets, but seems rather to seek them, of which fact interesting proofs may 

 frequently be seen, such as, that the herring will squeeze itself into the 

 meshes of the net if they are too small to receive it easily. The entire 

 herring-fishery of Norway is limited to catching the herring when about 

 to spawn, which is in marked contrast with the fact that in almost every 

 other country it is supposed that catching fish during the spawning sea- 

 son ruins the fishery. In every roe-herring which is caught CS,000 eggs 

 are preveuted from developing, aud it may easily be imagined that enor- 

 mous numbers of unborn fish are destroyed by the spriug-fisheries. If 

 the sea did not contain such incredible numbers of them, one years 

 fishery would entirely destroy the whole species. The empty herring 

 never approach the nets, and are caught only occasionally, since they no 

 longer feel the need of pressing against anything. 



In the opinion of several scientists, such as Professors Sundevall and 

 Loven, every herring is instinctively led to returp to the place where it 

 was born, although it be only an island of the smallest dimensions ; and 

 that it seeks another place for spawning only when driven away. This 

 opinion is chiefly based on observations of the same habitin the salmon, 

 which always seeks the identical place of its birth. 



A writer in the u 2Iorgenbladct, v (The Morning Journal,) some years 

 ago, endeavored to prove that those herring which, six years before, 

 were born in a certain spot, returned to it, and that the fishery would 

 always be abundant in the same place after the above-mentioned period, 

 and cited as evidence some extracts from the government inspectors' 

 accounts. This proved a very interesting subject for investigation to 



