30 The Vertebkates of Solway. 



these waters. A little practical combination might easily reinstate 

 the Smelt in its former abundance, as witness what has been done 

 in the Cree within a remarkably short period. 



The Grayling {Thymalhis vulgaris, Nilss). 



Shaw, of Drumlanrig-, put 2000 Grayling- ova into a stream 

 in the Drumlanrig policies, leading- into the Nith, in the spring- of 

 1857. The following year breeding- fish were introduced into the 

 same river by Lord John Scott. Now the species swarms in all 

 suitable localities. A few have been taken in the upper reaches of 

 the Annan, but none in the lower waters. I am unaware when, 

 or by whom, they were introduced there. 



The Anchovy {Engmidis encrasicholus, L.). 



The Anchovy came into the Solway waters in 1889, appear- 

 ing first in Fleet Bay; the following spring they were captured 

 near Annan, and it was soon ascertained that the whole firth -was 

 full of them. Since then their continued presence has been noted. 

 It will be interesting- to watch whether the Anchovy remains per- 

 manently off oui- coasts. 



The Hereixg {Ciupea harengiis, L.). 



Probably never a summer passes during which Herring do 

 not visit our firth. In the early half of the century they were 

 liere in such immense shoals as we never hear of now. The 

 public memory is proverbially short, and it has been almost for- 

 gotten that so comparatively recently as 1848 the Herring shoal 

 touched the Dumfriesshire shore, and most of the inhabitants of 

 that part of the coast left their usual occupations and engag-ed in 

 catching and curing, while those fish that had got stranded on the 

 1 anks were carted away by the farmers for manure. This was 

 more particularly the case in Caerlaverock parish, but at the Brow 

 and Priestside the people were equally busy, and this state of 

 matters lasted from the beginning- of SeptemV)er till Hallowe'en. 

 The English trawlers plied their vocation off the Boi'ron Point, and 

 some of them used to sell their catch daily at the Dockfoot. In the 

 several years that succeeded Herrings were neai-ly as abundant 

 in the firth. 630,000 were taken in a single night in October, 

 IS.'jO, off Maryport, and the fishing culminated in 18o2 with the 

 o-reatest catch of the century. In October and November of that 



