124 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



Our herring is, undoubtedly, a northern fish,^ but it 

 is most common in the cooler parts of the temperate 

 region in our hemisphere, and more abundant on our 

 own coasts throughout the year than it has ever been 

 known in the Arctic Ocean. 



Before concluding our remarks on the herring we 

 may say a few words about the " whitebait " — a fish 

 which has for many years provided materials for con- 

 troversy among a few naturalists and a great many 

 writers on fishes. It is hardly necessary to say that 

 the fishes which are sold as " whitebait " in the shops 

 are mixed with many kinds of small fry which, if they 

 were called by their right names, would never be 

 allowed to pollute the refined palates of epicures of the 

 present day ; but cooks are not expected to be natu- 

 ralists, and even if they were, their triumphs consist as 

 much in making palatable dishes from unpromising as 

 from promising materials. However, among the so- 

 called " whitebait " there are plenty which may bear 

 that honourable title ; but the question is, whether the 

 fishes to which it should be given are young herrings 

 below a certain size, or others which can be distin- 

 guished from them by sufficiently well-marked and 

 constant characters. As there is no doubt of the 

 " whitebait " belonging to the same genus ( Cluped) 

 as our herring, it is only necessary to look for specific 

 distinctions between them ; and these should be found 



^ It is by no means certain that the herrings found in the Black and Caspian 

 Seas are of the same kind as those frequenting the western coasts of Europe. 

 There are no specimens in the Britisli Museum from the former localities ; but 

 Clupea pontica has been described from the Black Sea, and C. caspia from the 

 Caspian ; the first, according to Dr. Giiuther, appearing to be closely allied to 

 our herring, and the second to be intermediate between the herrings and the 

 shads {Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. vii., pp. 418, 419). These are probably 

 the species characteristic of those seas, and in that case may be the herrings 

 referred to by Mr. Mitchell in his account of the various localities in which 

 herring fishing is carried on. 



