198 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



spawning iu spring, and a northern, spawning in autumn. In connec- 

 tion with this we may mention Nilsson's and Ekstrom's report, that in 

 the Baltic there are two varieties of small herring, ("Stromming,") the 

 more slender of which spawns in May and the beginning of June, and 

 the stouter one in August and the first half of September. On the 

 other hand, in the present case, where the Norwegian summer-her- 

 ring is spoken of, Sars has given satisfactory proof that in general it 

 does not spawn in autumn. Its fat and general good quality are caused 

 by its having, as one says, "fat, instead of roe and milt." The roe and 

 milt are there, in the lowest part of the abdominal cavity, covered by 

 the fat, but in so undeveloped a condition, that it may be taken for 

 granted that they cannot possibly mature as early as autumn. The 

 Norwegian fishermen, therefore, do not know the autumn-spawning 

 herring. According to their short-sighted view, the summer-herring 

 does not spawn at all; and they are led to take this view because it has 

 neither roe nor milt, but only fat, quite forgetting that every variety or 

 species of fish must be able to propagate itself in order to exist. By 

 denying the power of propagation, (wbich of course is only correct in 

 so far a,s it does not spawn as summer-herring,) they actually deny it 

 all independence as a separate variety. When the "summer-herring" 

 finally spawns, it has ceased to be a summer-herring, or fat-herring, (the 

 distinguishing mark of the latter being that it is filled with fat and not 

 with roe or milt,) and has become a spring-herring; iu other words, it 

 is only the younger herring, not yet Jit to spawn, in different stages of its 

 life, but ends invariably by becoming at last a genuine spring-herring. 

 The reason why people have been so long blind to this very simple 

 state of facts, in Sars's opinion, Hows from the erroneous idea that the 

 summer-herring goes into the fjords and bays lor the same purpose as 

 the spring-herring, while, as every one acquainted with the nature of 

 the herring knows, in reality it does not go at all for the purpose of 

 spawning, but merely to feed. 



If this theory is correct, the summer-herring must occur in different 

 forms, corresponding with the different stages of its life; and this is 

 actually the case. It is consequently brought into trade under different 

 names, which, on the whole, represent as many years or ages. In the 

 second year it is called Christiania herring; in the third, middle herring; 

 and in the fourth, merchants'' herring. Iu its fifth year, it has become a 

 genuine spring -her ring.* There is no essential difference between these 

 varieties except the size and the greater or less development of the sex- 

 ual organs ; but in all other points they are alike, even in the subdivis- 

 ions of these varieties, viz, small and large Christiania herring, small 

 and large middle herring, merchants' herring, &c. It must not be 

 imagined that these divisions in all cases agree exactly with the age; for 

 all fish do not reach the same size in the same period of time, and the 



*A correction, where, instead of fivo years, the whole period of this development 

 embraces six years, is given below. 



