FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND. 81 



and sprats could not be differentiated^ but about March in many 

 sprats tliey were larger, and in June the sprats were nearly all 

 " full '^ and ripe, while the specimens identified on the above charac- 

 ters as young herring showed no signs of increasing maturity, even 

 when eight inches long. The spawning of th.e sprat thus occurs 

 in May and June on the east coast of Scotland.* The largest sprat 

 obtained by Mr. Matthews was six inches, the smallest one and three 

 quarter inches, the average size being four to four and a half inches. 



The intermixture of sprats with shoals of young herrings, and the 

 great destruction of the latter by sprat fishers, are then discussed. 

 The proportion of young herrings varied from 3 to 80 per cent. In 

 the winter sprat fishing of 1883 along the east coast of Scotland close 

 upon 150,000,000 young herrings were taken by sprat fishers, 98 per 

 cent, of the total being used as manure. 



I may here refer to a paper in the Fourth Report, On the 

 Nature of Thames and Forth Wliitehait, by Professor Cossar Ewart 

 and Mr. Duncan Matthews. f The question whether " whitebait ^^ 

 forms a distinct species of Clnpea has been often discussed. The 

 authors, after referring to the diverse views held on this subject at 

 various times, give the results of an examination of several thousand 

 specimens of whitebait. Of about 6000 from the Thames, procured 

 in monthly samples between February and August, almost every 

 individual was either a young herring- or a young sprat. The 

 percentage of sprats varied from 95 in March to 13 in June. In 

 the Forth the percentage of sprats was 99'5 in the winter. In both 

 the Thames and Forth samples less than 1 per cent, consisted of 

 other small fish, such as gobies and sand launces. In the Report 

 for 1882 Professor Ewart published a paper on the Natural History 

 of the Herring, X dealing with the supposed existence of varieties, 

 the migrations, the character of the spawning ground, and the 

 spawning process, and describing the artificial fertilization and 

 hatching of herring ova. In regard to the first point it is shown 

 that there is as much difference between specimens caught at the 

 same time and place, as between the spring and autumn varieties 

 of the Baltic herring, established by Heincke. The migrations of 

 the herring and the causes most likely to influence them are dis- 

 cussed. The most important part of the paper deals with the 

 spawning of the herring. The famous spawning grounds at Ballan- 



* This agrees with the observations of Dr. Hensen, of the Kiel Commission, who has 

 also shown that the herring and sprat differ markedly in tlie mode of depositing tlieir ova. 

 In the sprat the eggs are translucent, dispersed and buoyant, floating freely in the water. 

 ( F?rfe Fiinf ter Bericht der Kommis. z. wissenschaft. Untersuchung d. deutschen Meere, 

 p. 40, 1887.) 



t Fourth Report, Append. F, pp. 98—100, 1886. 



X Second Report, Appendix F, pp. 61 — 72, pis. iv — ix, 1884. 

 VOL. II, NO. I. 6 



