WHAT WHITEBAIT IS. 281 



they became fiisliiouable as food for Londoners tliey 

 still retained their name " whitebait," by which appel- 

 Lation they will probably bo still known at ministerial 

 dinners, city feasts, and private dinner parties, for years 

 to come. 



The origin of the word whitebait having been thus 

 accounted for, I now proceed to state of what kind of 

 fish whitebait consists. The evidence of the different 

 witnesses may be classified as follows : — 



1st. That they are a fish of a distinct species. 



2nd. That they are young sprats. 



3rd. That they are young herrings. 



4tli. That they are "whitebait" without further 

 definition. 



Having for many seasons past X3aid serious attention 

 to the subject of whitebait, I now beg to give the results 

 of my investigations. In the whitebait nets, according 

 to the season, may be found the following eleven kinds 

 of fish all more or less in the fry state :— 1, herrings ; 

 2, sprats ; 8, gobies ; 4, weevers ; 5, sand-eels ; 6, 

 smelts ; 7, i)ipe-fish ; 8, sticklebacks ; 9, buntings or 

 brown shrimps ; 10, red shrimps ; 11, gorebills or gar- 

 pike. 



According to the season these fish are found in 

 various proportions. As I stated before, the fishing 

 commences in February, and goes on to the end of 

 August. It then stops because there is no sale for the 

 fish. If a basket of whitebait be examined in April 

 there will be found a large number of minute fish from 

 lin. to l^in. long, perfectly transparent, with a large 

 eye and no scales visible, the body being covered with 

 a few black spots. These are called *' smig herring." 



Towards the end of the month the scales begin to 

 appear on some of these young fish in the form of a 

 baud of silver along the edge of the abdomen. 



