23 
The quality of the fish throughout the season from a curing 
consideration was remarkably poor, the herrings shrunk so much 
that few or no “ Yarmouth Reds” were cured last year. The 
question of quality is one deserving of further work. The term 
“quality” in the herring trade has various meanings. It may refer 
to size, development of gonads, which determine to a large extent 
the bulk or weight of the fish, or it may refer to shrinkage of fish 
after curing by salt. The latter is influenced probably by the 
hydrographic conditions and food supplies of the year of capture. 
There was great difference between the herrings from the 
Clyde area and those from Yarmouth waters. Numbers of these 
fish were seen in the curing houses at North Shields, and there 
was considerable difference between them. In the early part 
of the Yarmouth fishery the Clyde herrings were older than the 
Yarmouth fish, most of the former having four winter rings, but 
this difference of age cannot be said to have marked the two 
fisheries later in the season when older fish came from Yarmouth. 
In appearance the Clyde herrings were better fed fish than those 
from Yarmouth; they were plumper and broader across the 
back, and when smoked gave a kipper thicker in the flesh. It 
was found to be possible, when in the curing houses, to pick out 
the barrels of herrings according to their origin, and also in many 
cases to identify the kippers on the racks when they came out of 
the smoking houses. 
Growti.—Particulars relating to growth will be found in 
Table If. Whilst for all samples the growth has been calculated 
by expressing the positions of the winter rings of the scale in terms 
of the length of the fish, only the data relating to shoals not pre- 
viously sampled are given. As in previous years the lengths 
are expressed to the nearest centimetre, 8-6 to 9-5 cm_ being 
counted as 9 cm. 
The Yarmouth samples of 7th June and 20th October are 
of interest in that the June sample came from a shoal of recovered 
spents from a spring spawning, and the Cctober sample came 
from a shoal of autumn spawners, the majority of which were 
young fish at the end of their fourth year. The herrings with 
three and four winter rings in the October sample show a much 
slower growth than fish of the same age in the June sample. ‘This 
difference is thought to be too great to be accounted for by the 
