mitciiable, the latter stating that, in his opinion, ''each 

 iiiai'iue region as a rule has its native Herring, which 

 is easily distinguished from other forms by its migrat- 

 iiio- at a different time of \-ear, when it forsakes its first 

 home in the (h.^jiths, and aiipi-oaches land to deposit its 

 roe in more suitable localities". Mac CuI/Locu" pur- 

 sued the criticism of Andeksson's theory, and in dii'ect 

 opposition to tiie regularity assumed l)y Andkksson, lie 

 rani,;'cd tlie unaccountable \ariations in tlie Herring's 



approa 



■h to the coast. 



It 



tiiat Vak- 



i;ei.l' di'ew liis well-known and often misused expres- 

 sion, "the Herring is a most capricious fish." But Mac 

 CoLLorn also endeavoured to find an explanation of 

 this fickleness in the different motives that induce the 

 Herring to migrate from deep \vater to the surface and 

 the shallows. Among the causes hereof he adduces the 

 desire of spawning, a point already touched upon by 

 Noel, the search for food, consisting of animals known 

 ill his time as "medus;e and other analogous marine 

 vermes, which are produced in such abundance during 

 tlie summer, in all tlie shallow seas," and the fear of 

 enemies. In Sweden NiLSSOX has been the most emi- 

 nent exponent of this theory, and he attributed thereto 

 a great economical importance, for he based on it his 

 assertion that a Herring-fisher}' may be utterlj' de- 

 stroyed, or at all events ruined for inaiu' years, by 

 the manner in which it is carried on. Tiie Boliusliln 

 fishery was in liis opinion a case in point; but this 

 conclusion has been opposed hj many. 



The pith of the question evidently lies in the elu- 

 cidation bv natural history of the varieties of the Her- 

 ring, if such varieties be really in existence. Nilsson 

 original]}'' adopted eight constant, local varieties: 



1) The Ocean Herring (Forma oceanira): Rabo' 



Herring (var. wresundica), Kulla' Herring (var. 



schelderensis), Bohuslan Grass-Herring (var. 



iNG. 959 



majalis), Bohusliln Breeding-Herring or Great- 

 Herring (var. bahusica), Norwegian \Vinter- 

 Herring (\ar. hiemdUs), Norwegian Autumn- 

 Herring (var. autumnal is); 

 2) Tlie Shore Herring (Forma tceniensis): Ivivik' 

 Herring (var. cimbrira), Baltic Herring en- 

 "Stroinming" (\ar. meinhras). 

 Subse(pieiUl\ " lie reduced tlic number of these 

 varieties to six, b\ uniting the Kabo Herring with tiie 

 Kulla Herring and the BohusUln Grass-Herring with the 

 Great Herring. Tiie names given above state where 

 the varieties were su])])osed to occur, and the distinctive 

 characters were derived from tlie differences in tiie size 

 of the head and eyes, in the de]jtii of the body, in the 

 position of the fins, and in the number of marginal scales 

 on tile bellv. Merely a hasty observation is enough to 

 show that these characters hold good in the main, or, 

 to employ Nilssox's words, \\hen the Herring appears 

 in large numbers together. And yet they are only signs 

 of different developmental stages. It is but natural, 

 however, that among innumerable individuals, as when 

 the Herring appears in multitudes sometimes so densely 

 packed within inlets of the sea that the name of moan- 

 tains has been conferred upon them, individual diffe- 

 rences should be comparatively easy to trace. But if 

 we eliminate these individual variations by calculating 

 a sufficient number of averages from an adequate num- 

 ber of individuals, we can make remarkable discoveries. 

 Among the factors necessary to an estimation of the 

 significance of form-characters, or to a determination of 

 the natural relations olitaining between different varie- 

 ties or species, the differences of sex and the alterations 

 of gro^vth occupy the foremost rank. In order to find 

 expressions for the former, I have caused the avei'ages 

 to be calculated for 7.5 Baltic Herrings, measured by 

 ^Ir. LuNDBEKG, Inspector of Fisheries''. 



° Quart. Journ. Sc, Lit., Arts, vol. XVI, p. 210, London 18-23— 24. 



» Hist. Brit. Fish., ed. 1, vol. II, p. U2. 



' Prodromns Ichthyologice Scandiriavicce, p. 23. 



* Raa is a large fishing-village on the Sound, south of Helsingborg. 



' Kullen is a promontory north of Helsingborg, south of Scheldcr Buy. 



■'' .\ large fishing-village near Kristianstad. 



' Skandinavisk Fauna, Fiskame, p. 493. 



" Bih. Vet. Akad. Handl., Bd. 3, No. 4. 



Scandinavian Fisht 



