IIEKKING. 



)71 



luals, and under the niieroscope we may see the layers 

 (if fat l)etween the muscles and viscera within the frail 

 shell of these minute organisms." The Gulaat is made 

 up princi])ally of Annelid larva-, the Svartaaf of small 

 inollusks, the lar\:e of laru'er nuillusks, and I'teropods. 

 When the Herring has gorged itself with this food, and 

 not had time for digestion or to exc-rete the remains, 

 it is worthless as an article of trade. The tish decom- 

 poses rapidly, will not absorb the salt, and emits a 

 disgusting stench. In Norway it has therefore been 

 prescribed that such tish must be left three days in the 

 seine before being drawn U]i and salted. The Svatinaf 



271) cntci' into the diet of the Herring; and it is no 

 doulit pai'tial to all other kiuds of small fishes. 



The Herring has enemies in numbers. Among fishes 

 its most destructive foes are the Cod, the Coalfish, the 

 Hake, large Scombroids, the Salmon, and Sharks. Among 

 whales the lesser ronpial (Bala'noptcra rastratti), the 

 great northern nn'qual (BaUeuopt. Juticeps) ami the fin- 

 whale {Bakenojif. iiikkciiIks) feed on Herrings. The por- 

 poises are also Herring eaters; and among the most 

 troublesome of all are the seals, which often leave no- 

 thing in the net but the heads of the fish. Numerous 

 birds (gulls, terns, the gannet, etc.) swell the tale of 



243. A YannoiiUi drift boat out tisliiniir. After Holdsworth. 



is the worst, and almost hopelessly spoils the tish. But 

 animals of a relatively small size are not the Herring's 

 only food: it can also devour fishes of com])aratively 

 great dimensions. In the stomach of a large Baltic 

 Herring Eksthom found three good-sized specimens of 

 Gobius mlnufKfi; and the stomach of a female Herring 

 3 dm. long, which was caught in the island-belt of 

 Stockholm in .Tamiary, 189o, and in which the ovaries 

 were swollen to about a third of their full size, con- 

 tained portions of five Herring-fry that had been almost 

 equal in size, anil the largest of which had measured 

 6 /j cm. We have remarked above that the Douljly- 

 spott-ed Goby (p. 2.51) and f'ri/stdlliK/nlj'nis XH'^sohH ([). 



its persecutors. But in the wai- of extermination against 

 the Herring the most ])rominent part is taken by man. 



In the open sea and in the great arms of the sea 

 the Herring is taken in drift-nets, gill-nets, and purse- 

 seines. Nearer land the gill-net and jjurse-seine are 

 also used, but most commonly the seine (Sw. lad") or, 

 as in Denmark, the hund-garn, a sort of stake-net. 



The drift-net is a contiinuius train of nets (Sw. 

 lank) seized to a stout rope or warp (Sw. drift-rep), to 

 which large floats (clumps of wood — Sw. Jdahbar, koh- 

 li(ir — or kegs — Sw. diDiknr, briUar — or bags of skin, 

 usually dogskin — Sw. tidckbojar) are attached with 

 stronger seizings, so as to keep the whole 'drift' afloat 



" The word vnd is difficult of explanation. Some write vada, and derive it from the verb vada (to wade). The Danes write vdd, 

 and it is a question whether the word is not (he same as that we find in klOdningsvdd (a breadth of cloth) etc. 



