ilS! 



Sliiids ;\re IcTiowii tVoiu tlu' west coast of Swwlei). Tlie 

 TuMitc' Shad is (•(iniiuDncr, and is taken off the coast of 

 Boiuislihi, according to Malm, "now and then, most fre- 

 (iiieiitly on Haddock-lines, both in spring and autninn, 

 hut usiialh in ( >ctiilici- and November. " At the Ix;- 

 odnniiig o[ .Iui\-. 1(S.')2, according to Nilsson, about a. 

 score of Twaite Shads were taken in Flonnder-ncts off 

 Mtdmo (Bohnsliin)- * *ii <lic ilallnnd coast the Twaite 

 Shad is fairly coninioii, at least in Laholni I5a\', where 

 it is called BhoiksUI and SfafsiH, and in snmmci- it 

 ascends to the lower part of the; River La.ga. It is found 

 quite often, according to SchagekstkOm, in Sclielder Bay 

 at the foot of the Knila (Miffs. In the Sound it is rather 

 rare, but commoner than in the Belts (Winthkk)- ' *n 

 the Prussian coast, according to P)ENErKE. it formerly 

 entered the Haft's in great numbers, but is now i-are, 

 being taken only on few occasions among the hauls of 

 StrOmniing. Nilsson states that in April, 1850, the 

 fishermen of Abekas (Southern Scania, west of Vstad) 

 caught, partly in gill-nets set for other Hsh, jiartly in 

 Salmon-seines, 8 or 10 Twaite Shads. From Calmar 

 Sound off Borgholm Dr. Areex sent to the Royal Mu- 

 seum a male Twaite Shad al>ont 3 dm. long that had 

 been taken in a trap on the 13th of October, 189 "2. 

 The Twaite Shad thus occurs in the Swedish part of 

 the Baltic, but the specimens ai-e probably solitary ro- 

 vers; and this is, no doubt, the case w-ith the Allice 

 Shad too. which has been found still higher up. The 

 Museum of Ujjsala contains a female Allice Shad 57 

 ciM. long that was taken on the 6th July, 18(i4, in t1ie 

 Dal Elf off Elfkarleby (Lilljeborg). 



No Shad-tislierv of ini])ortance can therefoi'e be 

 carried on in Sweden, unless successful attempts Ije made 

 to plant this tish in suitable places within Scandinavia. 

 Things are different in the Shad's true home. In the Old 

 World its h;d)itat is of about the same extent as the 

 Pilchard's, and there tlie Shad is one of the most im- 

 portant tishes from an economical point of view, its 

 manner of life reminding us strongly of the Salmons. 



The Shad commonly |)asses the greater part of its 

 existence in the sea; and its life there is little known, 

 but it probabl)' roves in scattered companies to seek it< 

 food. This consists not only of small Evertebratcs and 

 lower alga^ but also of moderate-sized fishes. In the 

 stomach of a Twaite Shad 47 cm. long Collect foiuid 

 about a score of S])ra-ts (i5 — Ii8 mm. in length. 



" Nouv. Diet. Gen. Peches, p. Hi. 

 ' Cdv.. Val., 1. c, p. 412. 



When its pi-opagative institict begins to awake, or 

 even some time lieforchand — this depending seemingh' 

 on the temperature of the water — the Shad nuisters in 

 shoals to connnence its migration to fresh water. Ac- 

 cording to .McDoXALi) the American Shad ascends the 

 St. .Icihn's River (Florida) as soon as the temperature of 

 the water has fallen in autumn to about 60° Fahr., 

 Avhich happens at the end of November; but the spawn- 

 ing is not in full progress till the beginning of Ajjril. 

 In the Potomac, on the other hand, the Shad presses 

 on with the greatest eagerness when the temperature of 

 the ri\c;r, at about the middle of April, is 56° Fahr. 

 Large and snudl, ri|)e and unripe, the fish make their 

 approach, but onh' (he former continue their advance, 

 until thev hnd a temperature of 65° — 70° Fahr., where- 

 upon the spawning is begmi, the Shads not yet in 

 breeding condition halting at a temperature of 60° Fahr. 

 The further north the nioutli of the river lies, tlie later 

 is the a].)pearance of the Shad. This seems also to be 

 the case in iMirope. .Vccording to Bl.vxchere" Shads 

 are taken in French rivers from March till July, and 

 according to \'alexciexxes* the fish appears earlier in 

 the Loire than in the Seine. According to van Bem- 

 melen (1. c.) the Shad (tilnsa first) ascends most of the 

 Dutch rivers in April and May. It is a rule too that 

 the Twaite Shad arrives about a month after the Allice 

 Shad. In England, according to Yarrell, the two 

 varieties have a preference for dift'erent rivers: in the 

 Severn the Allice Shad preponderates, in the Thames 

 the Twaite Shad. In Ireland both varieties are fairly 

 Common, in Scotland somewhat rare. 



At the commencement of its sojourn in fresh water 

 the Shad is in its Ijest condition, and it retains its fatness 

 until the spawning begins. For the purpose of spawning 

 it roves, like the Salmon, but with less vigour, as far 

 as it can penetrate up the rivers and their trilnitarics, in 

 the lihine u\) to I'asel, in the Elbe into Bohemia, and 

 in the Loire into Haute Loire, a distance of more than 

 800 kilom. (.Moi;.). During the early part of its ascent 

 it is as timid as the Herring and cautious, retreating 

 at the a])proach of a thunderstorm or a si)ring freshet : 

 but as the sexual instinct gains sway, tlic fish lay 

 aside all fear, and "grumble and grunt, like a herd of 

 swine" (Baldxer, in WiLLUGiiBv). Meanwliile, as the 

 males and females ])ress together and thrash the sur- 

 face with their tails, the eggs are deposited and im- 



