98 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. XI 
The spawning habits of the Atlantic herring have been the cause of 
differences of opinion since the first investigation was made on this 
species, and even yet there is much lack of agreement concerning them. 
Are the winter herring and the summer herring the same, the individual 
spawning twice in the year or are they entirely different races, the in- 
dividual spawning but once in the year but those of different races 
spawning at different seasons? 
From all the evidence so far deduced there is not much room for such 
difference of opinion in the case of the Pacific herring. Apparently 
in no case has spawning been observed twice in the same year in any 
one district. The spawning time varies somewhat with the locality, 
as it does with either the winter herring or the summer herring in the 
North Sea, but in any one locality the spawning all takes place within 
a few days and there is no further indication of it until approximately 
the same time the next year. If a more extended series of observations 
corroborates what thus far seems quite certain, circumstantial evidence 
would indicate that the Atlantic herring spawn but once in the year, 
since the two species, in their general structure as well as in their habits, 
are so Closely related. Direct investigation has been restricted almost 
entirely to the area within a radius of 20 or 25 miles from the Biological 
Station, Departure Bay, but as this area includes the most important 
herring district in British Columbia waters, it is large enough to pro- 
vide material for a great amount of work, so much so, that what is 
already done can only be considered as a preliminary to a prolonged 
attack on the herring problem. The investigation is made all the more 
agreeable on account of the courtesy of the local representatives of the 
Fisheries Department as well as all others from whom it has been neces- 
sary to obtain information or assistance. 
Within this area, during the seasons 1912-3 and 1913-4, the herring 
made their first appearance for the season at the entrance to Nanoose 
Bay, in 10-20 fathoms, about the first of October. At this time the 
gonads are partially developed, the eggs being from one-fourth to one- 
half the diameter of the full grown eggs. They remained in this vicinity 
in sufficient numbers for four or five weeks to make it profitable to fish 
for them and then they disappeared. About the same time a sufficient 
number appeared to the southward of Yellow Point to attract the fisher- 
men in that direction. These localities are 30 miles or more apart, and 
it is scarcely probable that the same race of fish are found in the two 
places. If the one school travelled from one place to the other along 
the shore or even a short distance out, some of the fishermen, who at 
this time are continually on the lookout for them, would be sure to see 
some trace of them on the way. Furthermore, coho salmon caught in 
