THE NORWEGIAN HERRING-FISHERIES. 115 



while in the spring-herring, it is softer and tougher. There is, therefore, 

 no other difference between the roe-bags of the great herring and those 

 of the spring-herriug, than that the roe-bag of the former is less de- 

 veloped than that of the latter. In the early part of the fisheries, the 

 roe-bag of the great herring is least developed", while toward the end, cer- 

 tainly in those caught near Selsovik, it is much more developed and 

 softer, and we even find herring among them which are ready to spawn. 

 The first herring is, on the other hand, much fatter than this last from 

 Selsovik, from which it is evident that the fatness decreases in propor- 

 tion as the sexual organs develop. When the herring comes in from 

 the sea in order to spawn, it, like the haddock, takes no food during the 

 spawning time, and must, therefore, secure the material which is neces- 

 sary for the development of the roe-bags from its own body ; it there- 

 fore grows thin in proportion as the sexual organs develop. 



Boeck met with a beautiful illustration of this in a great herring from 

 Skarsfjord, six miles north of Tromso. Among the great herring which 

 he had occasion to examine there, he saw one that was much fatter than 

 the other, and which, on account of its size and beauty, he determined 

 to take home and preserve in alcohol, but he finally opened it to ascer- 

 tain the cause of its excessive fatness. He found that the herring was 

 a male, and that the right milt was well developed, while, on the left 

 side, only small traces of milt were found. He then observed that an 

 intestinal worm had taken up its abode in the left milt, and had hin- 

 dered its development. On the same side were found large stripes of 

 fat twisted around the digestive channels ; and as this herring had thus 

 not been able to develop its whole milt, it was not obliged to use all 

 the fat in its body, so that some of it lay on that side where there was 

 room for it. Hence it is clear that in this respect there is no difference 

 between the great herring and the spring-herring. He was told by old 

 seine-fishermen that during the first year of the spring-herring fisheries 

 this herring did not approach the coast in a condition ready for spawning, 

 but that it became so only toward the end of the fishery, and that then 

 the herring was much fatter than it is now. Perhaps there is a similar 

 change in store for the great-herring fisheries, so that after some years 

 the great herring will also come near the coast better prepared for spawn- 

 ing, and will consequently be less fat. 



Boeck then gave his opinion on the probable future of the spring- 

 herring fisheries in the so-called southern fishing-places, where he had 

 made a number of observations. In what he said he did not wish to 

 assume the character of a prophet ; he would only give facts, both for 

 and against, and he would, as he had done before, leave it to each one 

 of his hearers to draw from these facts the conclusions that seemed to 

 him most correct. Four years ago, when the fishery was still good, he 

 had warned people not to put too much faith in its continued success, 

 and not to expend too large sums in the erection of new salting-houses, 

 or the extension of old ones. At that time his warnings were received 



