982 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



the Spanish Peninsula and France and off tlie south 

 coast of England, in the same manner as the Herring 

 further north. In the southern part of its range, north- 

 wards along the coast of the Spanish Peninsula and in 

 tiie Mediterranean, it is said to he met with near land 

 all the year round. IJut where the deep water, hounded 

 by the 100-t'athonis line, lies farther from shore, be- 

 tween the south of the Bay of Biscay and the British 

 ])lateau, the influence of which on the Herring's geogi-a- 

 phical range has been noticed above, the Pilchard, a tish 

 that rests and winters in the depths of the ocean, ap- 

 proaches land in an order the reverse of that observed 

 by the Herring. Tiie Herring comes, as we have seen, 

 from the north, anil spreads round the coasts of Great 

 Britain. The Pilcliard appears earliest in the year off 

 the south coast of France, and the iishery commences 

 later and later to the north". In deep water, however, 

 the I'ilchard occurs all the year- round off the coasts of 

 ("ornwall and Devon, being often found, according to 

 Day. in the stomach of tish taken on long-lines in 

 January; but the Pilchard-fishery with drift-nets does 

 not begin until July, and with the seine not until 

 August. 



The Pilchard's habits are the same as the Herring's. 

 It is extremely timid and gregai'ious, but greedily feeds 

 on minute animals or even on the spores of seaweed and 

 on Diafonuiced', its sound appetite gaining it the fatness 

 for which it is famed. The most important Pilchard- 

 fishery on the French coast depends on this voracity. 

 Fish-roe is imported from Norway — principally Lofoden 

 Cod-roe, which costs the French fisherman (SO — KMjfVancs 

 or more a bai'rel — and this expensive bait, sometimes 

 mixed for the sake of economy with sand or choj^ped 

 meat and pounded crustaceans, is strewn on one side 

 of the net floating at the surface behind the boat, when 

 the Pilchard is seen on the other side of the net. When 

 the net is as full of Pilchards as the fisherman thinks 

 proper — which he sees by the sinking of the cork-line — 

 a fresh net is shot, so long as the store lasts, and the 

 fishing goes well. The bait is costly, but justifies tiie 

 outlay; and in r/ond i/etii's the French fishermen take 

 one or two milliards of Pilchards, worth fifteen to twenty 

 million francs. Of the Cornish Pilchard-fishery Fo.\'' 



states that the exjiort of salted Pilchards from Penzance 

 and Falmouth to Genoa, Leghorn, Naples and Venice 

 amounted in 1879 to 11,938 hogsheads or about 3.1 — 

 36 million fish; and according to Coucii'' the English 

 export of those fumadncs has averaged for many years 

 30,000 hogsheads, sometimes amounting to 60,000. 



In 1879 the purse-seine was first used in the 

 French Pilchard-fishery, but it has not yet come into 

 favour. In the Cornish fishery this engine has been 

 employed longer, even jjrevious to its inti'oductioii into 

 the American Mackerel fishery. 



The Pilchard-fishery is subject to the same fluc- 

 tuations as the Herring-flsher)', being still more de- 

 pendent on the temperature of the water, but naturally 

 too on the supply of food. According to Dunn** it has 

 more than once happened during very severe winters , 

 that the English Channel proved too shallow to afford ! 

 the Pilchard jirotectiou from the cold. On these occa- 

 sions he saw "countless millions" of Pilchards perishing 

 or ficiating dead at the surface. In quest of food the 

 Pilchard army roves westwards from the Channel out 

 into the Atlantic; but Dunn adduces instances to show 

 that this fish sometimes stays off the Cornish coast, 

 feeding on the multitudes of crustacean larvte in the 

 Zoea-stage. With the same object it also makes its 

 way up the Irish Channel; but it seldom extends its | 

 wanderings to the North Sea. In the migrations of the ' 

 Pilchard and its approach to the coast so-called semi- 

 secular periods may be obseiwed'', as in the case of 

 the Herring-fisher)-. 



The spawning of the Pilchard is probably performed 

 in the open sea. Late in May and in June Dunn met 

 with great numbers of ripe Pilchards 25 — 30 miles 

 south of the Lizard; but the species breeds, it is stated, 

 in winter as well, and, according to Yarhell, as early 

 as in Octolx'i'. "I have reason to suppose," says Corcii, 

 "that the spawn is shed at the surface, and mingled 

 with it a large quantity of tenacious mucus, in which 

 it is kejit floating while it is obtaining the vivifying j 

 influence of the light and warmth of the sun," an i 

 assumption that has been corroliorated by the obser- 

 vations of DiNN and Cunningham^ According to Day 

 the female Pilchard lays about 60,000 eggs; and it has 



" See Vaii.lant and Hennehuy. llapp. Gen. sur la peclie de la Sardine (Gkrville-Reache), Paris 1888. \i. 



' In BuoKLAND, Nat. Hist. Brit. Fisli., ji. li'iS. 



' Fi.-<h. Brit. 1st., vul. IV. p. 9.'i. 



"* Fisli. Trades Gazette, No. iSfi (3nl Sept., 1H'J2), p. '.). 



<• See Coi'CH, 1. c, p. 85. 



•'' Mith. Sect. Kust., Hochs. Fisclier., Doutsch. Fisrii. Ver., 1892, p. 4.5. 



