iir.iiKiDAi, siir.-sMKr.T. 



919 



Tlio a])(loiiiinal cavity of this spcciesi too is l)lack, 

 liiit till' |)luiryii,u:«il cavity white with a coat of silver. 

 Till' lil;ick ]>iL;iiicnt of the ahiloiiiiiiMl (■a\it\-, which hci'c 

 too rests (111 ;i l;i\ci' <if silver\ culoiir, extends to the 

 Stoiuacli, w'hieli heiids ahru])th- (lowiiwards and l'iir\\ards 

 ill :ih()ut a line with the tips of the pectoral tins, ('lose 

 up to the diaphragm the intestine bends no less abniptly 

 iliiwiiwards and l)ackwards, to the ri,i;ht of the liver, 

 which is cdiiiparatively small, and it is there furnished 

 with rather long and thick appendages, varying, as it 

 appears, in number. Nilsson counted 14 — "20 of these 

 pvloric appendages, A\e have tumid \'2. and Muk'Kai' 

 fiiiiiid 111 — 1-: W'lLi.rciinv (Kay) counted (i nv 7, and 

 Pay diih' .'). The intestine then runs in a straight 

 line til the vent, just in fi'ont of the anal tin. The 

 gall-bladder is thin-walled and oblong. The sjileen is 

 triangular and lies behind the stomach. The air-bladder 

 is long and fusiform, pointed at both ends, and seems 

 here, as in the preceding species, to be without con- 

 nective duct with the oesophagus. It lias lung been 

 remarked for the ricli. highlv lustrous coat of silverv 

 pigment both without and within its thick wall. 



Ill the North the Hebridal Siil-Sraelt is best known 

 as an inhabitant df Christiania Fjord, where it was also 

 first observed, l)v Esmark. From this fjord, savs (.'ol- 

 LETT, \vliere it is caught in Sprat-seines and nets, some- 

 times ill liundreds at a single haul, it is brought al- 

 most d;iilv during autumn to the Christiania market. 

 In winter solitary sijecimens are hooked on the clavey 

 bottom. It was in this manner that the specimen re- 

 presented in our figure was secured, the only authen- 

 ticated instance of the occurrence of this species on the 

 Swedish coast. The said specimen was caught on ;i 

 Haddock-line off Helso, o miles from .Stromstad, alxiut 

 Christmas, 1S79. Along the Norwegian coast the spe- 

 cies has been met with at several places, though in no 

 great nunilier, u|i to Trondhjem Fjord, where it liears, 

 according to StkOm, the name of Sftirsild. Sframsihl 

 {Stream Hevrivfi), the name liy which it is known in 

 Christiania Fjord, is derived, according to Nilsshx. 

 from the circumstance that "the young at least, like 

 young Herrings, at certain seasons entei' the mouths 

 of the rivers, and are found at the outlets of the streams." 



On both sides of Scotland and off the Yorkshire coast 

 solitary specimens have l)een taken; but the species is 

 most common and has longest been known in the Me- 

 diterraiieMii. on the coasts of Italy and France. As we 

 lia\e already niciilioued. it has also been found on the 

 coast of Algi(!rs; and it apparently belongs to the New 

 Zealand fauna, fir Irom its l"2uropean home. Its bathy- 

 metric range extends to a dejith of at least '200 fathoms, 

 for ^Iai.m r(H('i\ed three specimens which had been 

 found ill the stomach of a Ling caught at that depth 

 on the tishing-b.ink of Storegg off the Norwegian coast. 



In the stomach of tlie Hel>ridal Siil-Smelt Edwakd 

 discovered small crustaceMiis and Scrinhtruc, Coi.lett 

 Anneloids. But as it is also hooked on lines set for 

 Haddock and the smaller Codfishes, it apparently feeds 

 like them on mollusks and, probably, on small fishes. 

 It is a socialile and lively fisli, and in the seine it 

 wriggles till tlie scales fall off: but after this, savs 

 CoLLETT, it floats about heliilessly at the surface. ( )f 

 its spawMiing-season widely different accounts are given. 

 According to Kisso it breeds in the Jlediterranean in 

 spring, and appears on a sandy bottom in April. Yau- 

 RELL mentions a female, 8 inches in length and full of 

 roe, that was taken on the we.st coast of Scotland in 

 June. On the east coast of Scotland Edward caught 

 a male fairly full of milt in (October. Collett received 

 from the neighboui'hood of Stavanger a gravid female 

 taken in June; but in Christiania Fjord he found the 

 females full of roe in ( )ctober. The female caught bj- 

 Hanssox had extremely small eggs in December, but 

 did not seem to have spawned in the course of the 

 autumn, in which case the ovaries would probably 

 have been still more shrunken". 



In Scandinavia the Hebridal Siil-Smelt has never 

 been put to any pi-actical purpose, except perhaps as 

 bait on a long-line or hand-line. Its flesh is good, 

 at'cording to Risso, but its cucumber-like smell per- 

 iiaps uninviting, (xreater advantage has been taken of 

 this fish in Italv. There the silvery pigment of its 

 air-bladder and scales has long been collected to afford 

 material, under the name of efisence d'orient, for the 

 manufacture of imitation pearls, as we have above 

 described when treatiiiij of the Bleaks. 



" C'f. Smitt, Rik^museets Salmonkler. tab. iiielr. VIT. 



Scnudinnritm Fiifie 



