128 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



of age, or size, or a greater development of the sexual organs in one and 

 the same kind, or such as are found at the different seasons when the 

 herring are caught, and -which the fishermen themselves by no means 

 always understand. The more experienced among them, however, gen- 

 erally make a distinction between — 1, the spring or grass herring; 2, the 

 sea-herring, (lottsill;) and, 3, the wandering-herring, (straksill,) which last 

 is by some thought to be only a full-grown sea-herring. Concerning the 

 three races thus recognized, and which have not been admitted from 

 interested views, I shall give whatever I have been able to gather from 

 the literature on the subject as well as from conversations with the most 

 experienced and reliable fishermen, reserving for a future report all the 

 facts I could gather from personal observation. I shall make it a specia 

 object to enter into a fuller examination than has been hitherto done of 

 the various assertions made before the committee of inquiry in 1833, as 

 these are viewed from such different stand-points, and are urged by the 

 partisans of conflicting opinions. 



THE SPRING-HERRING ( u Y&rsilV). 



(Clupea majalis, Kilss.) 



This coast-herring, which is found in the Skagerack, along the coast 

 from Holland Point to Cape Lindesnces, is distinguished by its com- 

 paratively small head and plump shape, and by its spawning on the 

 coast in March, April, and May. Whether the Limfiord-herriug, which 

 likewise spawns in spring, belongs to the same race, I have not been 

 able to ascertain. 1 The spring-herring is chiefly found near the mouths 

 of the large rivers flowing into the Skagerack, where it is also caught 

 with stationary nets. This race, which is distinguished from the larger 

 one that has sometimes visited Bohus-Lan in enormous numbers and has 

 caused the famous "great" fisheries, is either entirely overlooked or 

 considered incorrectly as the former "old" herring's insignificant de- 

 scendant. It is chiefly caught in spring, during the spawning-sea- 

 son, but likewise, though in smaller numbers, at the end of summer 

 and in the autumn and winter, while its young are caught at all sea- 

 sons of the year, though rarely in any great number. 



The spring-herring was during the old fishery, and even some time 

 afterward, known by the collective name of " lottsill," 3 but began to 

 be gradually distinguished from it as a separate race. 3 The most com- 

 mon and oldest name for this race is spring-herring, (Varsill. 4 ) Accord- 

 ing to Nilsson 5 and Ekstrom 6 it is said, after having finished spawning, 



1 See Handl. ror. Sillf., p. 107 fr. 24. 



s Handl. ror. Sillf., p. 88 fr. 23, p. 89 fr. 30, p. 100 fr. 13, 14, p. 102 fr. 25, p. 119 fr. 9, 

 p. 127 fr. 19. 



3 See Handl. ror. Sillf., p. 107 fr. 24. 



4 Dubb, Kgl. Vet. Akad. Handl. f. 1817, p. 34. Handl. ror. Sillf, p. 90 fr. 31. 

 6 Handl. ror. Sillf, p. 63 fr. 136. 



6 Praktisk afhandling, p. 10. 



