134 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



at first mostly small, but at the end of December and 

 beginning of January a great many large ones are 

 mixed with the others, and these are aj)proaehing 

 spawn condition. Ramsgate is one of the few places 

 were sprats are caught by drift-nets, and coiisequently 

 only the larger fish are taken. These are so nearly 

 ready for spawning at the end of December and be- 

 ginning of January that the fish with hard roes can be 

 readily distinguished from those with soft ones — the 

 females from the males — by the ordinary mode of 

 handling them ; and most of those taken in January 

 have spawned before the middle of the month. The 

 largest fishery for sprats is at the mouth of the Thames; 

 and the fish caught there generall}^ agree in size with 

 those taken in the Solent at the same periods, the full- 

 roed fish being most abundant at the beginning of the 

 year, which is confirmed by the Billingsgate salesmen, 

 who say that January is the spawning month. Now, 

 as the large and full-roed fish form but a very small 

 proportion of the thousands of tons of sprats caught 

 every year close to the land, it cannot be supposed that 

 spawning is the general object of the visits of these 

 great shoals to the bays and estuaries along the coast ; 

 and the question becomes more perplexing, if it be true, 

 as stated by Parnell, that the sprat is very sensitive to 

 cold ; for, whatever may be ihe case in the Firth of 

 Forth, there is no doubt that tlie sprats, young and old, 

 are most abundant in shallow water along the English 

 coast at the coldest time of the year. Although these 

 fish have been taken in spawning condition in summer 

 on certain parts of the coasts, there is no reason to 

 believe they are ever very numerous at that time 

 near the land ; and negative evidence would lead us 

 to expect the breeding habits of the sprat to be more 



