118 



CLUPEID*;. 



which is about their average length, they are only one inch 

 and three-eighths in depth, and are without roe. Having 

 examined them repeatedly during the winter months, I am 

 induced to believe they do not mature any roe during their 

 first year ; and the fact of their remaining in large shoals at 

 the mouth of the Thames after the Herrings that have 

 recently spawned have left the shore, may be taken in cor- 

 roboration ; for had they matured and deposited any roe, 

 they would, like the more adult fish of their own species, 

 have experienced the same necessity for retiring to deep 

 water. 



The Herring, however, which I now refer to, is found 

 heavy with roe at the end of January, which it docs not 

 deposit till the middle of February. Its length is not 

 more than seven inches and a half, and its depth near two 

 inches. It is known that Dr. Leach had often stated that 

 our coast produced a second species of Herring ; but I am 

 not aware that any notice of it has ever appeared in print. 

 In order, however, to identify the name of that distinguished 

 naturalist with a fish of which he was probably the first 

 observer, I proposed for it the name of Cliipea Leachii. 



Dr. Leach"'s observations on the Hemnof were made during 

 his visit to the extended line of our southern coast in the 

 year 1808 ; and Mr. Jesse, in his " Gleanings in Natural 

 History," has noticed the superiority and consequent partia- 

 lity that is said to exist in favour of the Herrings of Car- 

 digan Bay over those that are taken at Swansea. 



Of the existence of a second species of Herring on our 

 shores, further proof may be adduced in the following ex- 

 tracts. 



" In former times," says Dr. M'Culloch, " the fishery 

 of the east coast of Scotland did not commence till that 

 on the wTst had terminated. It was then supposed, and 



