156 REPEODUCTION AND GEOWTH OF THE PILCHARD. 



sardine at Marseilles begins to spawn wlien it is one year old, 

 although, it probably does not reach the maximum size of 18 cm, 

 (7j in.) till it is at least two years old. 



At present we have scarcely any evidence as to the growth of 

 the pilchard or oceanic sardine. Pouchet tells us that the smallest 

 sardine he has hitherto obtained was 9*8 cm. in length or 3"9 

 inches, and he thinks this was about six months old. At Plymouth 

 I have not yet obtained the young of the pilchard at various suc- 

 cessive stages. Our fishermen never seem to catch pilchards so 

 small, and, therefore, presumably, so young as the fish taken for the 

 sardine industry on the French coast. I believe this difference is 

 due chiefly to the character of the nets used, the drift-nets at 

 Plymouth having too large a mesh to retain the young fish. How- 

 ever I believe I have obtained some of the very early stages of the 

 young pilchard. The specimens I refer to were taken in the same 

 hauls of the large tow- net as the Phyllosoma I have described in 

 another paper, that is to say they were obtained at the surface on 

 July 9th and July 16th, about two miles north and south of the Eddy- 

 stone. I have figured three of these specimens illustrating different 

 stages of development. The smallest and youngest stage repre- 

 sented in fig. 1 is 8*5 mm. in length ; the larval membranous 

 fin is still present along the dorsal edge and behind the anus ven- 

 trally, the permanent dorsal fin is beginning to develope and a 

 symmetrical larval tail fin is present supported by slender rays. 

 All the figures have been drawn from preserved specimens mounted 

 in Canada balsam, and this is the reason of their somewhat rough 

 character, the mounted specimens having lost the transparency and 

 sharpness of detail seen in living fish-larvee. The notochord in 

 the stage shown in fig. 1 is a large and conspicuous structure. 

 Fig. 2 represents a slightly more advanced stage in which the 

 development of the fin-rays of the dorsal fin is more pronounced, and 

 there is an indication of the permanent caudal fin-rays on the ventral 

 side of the notochord in the tail. The actual size of the speci- 

 men from which this figure was drawn is 11 "5 mm. The specimen 

 represented in fig. 3 is 2 '4 cm. long, and is in the same stage as 

 the fish called at Nice poutino nudo. All trace of the primordial 

 fin-membrane has disappeai'ed, and the permanent fin-rays are 

 almost completely developed in the dorsal fin, ventral fin, and 

 caudal fin. The pelvic fins have also appeared ; the pectorals are 

 present in the earlier stages, but in this stage are larger, and their 

 fin-rays are beginning to develop. The dorsal fin at this stage is 

 some distance behind the pelvic, while in the adult its anterior ex- 

 tremity is in front of the pelvic. 



That these young clupeoids are not herring larvae is proved by 



