INTRODUCTORY. 39 



hold the larger fish, which frequently seize those 

 already hooked. The big fish are thus generally among 

 the first to be caught on ground that is newly worked ; 

 and there being reason to think cod require many years 

 to attain unusual size, the chances of their escaping the 

 bait long enough to do so become less in every year of 

 the continuance of the fishery. As, however, the cod 

 begins to spawn when it is of a very moderate size, the 

 capture of the very large ones does not specially affect 

 the increase, and there seems to be always a good supply 

 of growing fish of various ages. 



What we have already said about the situation of 

 fish spawn while undergoing development materially 

 lessens the interest in the question of where the fish 

 are when the spawn is being shed. But it is not a 

 subject that should be altogether passed over when dis- 

 cussing the habits of those fishes whose capture gives 

 employment to so many thousands of our j)opulation, 

 besides supplying the markets with an immense quan- 

 tity of excellent food. 



It will probably be. difficult to find any matter relat- 

 ing to the sea fisheries on which people in general are 

 better agreed than that it is a rule for fish to come in 

 from deep water to shallow water for the purpose of 

 spawning. It is a very old idea, and receives some 

 support from the fact that fish of several kinds are 

 observed near the land when they are ready to spawn, 

 and the herring may be mentioned as an apparently 

 notable example. There are some objections to it, how- 

 ever, which it will be desirable to consider ; and in 

 doing so we have no wish to dogmatize on the subject, 

 but merely to ^^oint out that we all have a great deal 

 more to learn before we can safely say whether or not 

 anv rule exists on the matter. 



