1915] ON CLuPzA PALLASII CUVIER AND VALENCIENNES 101 
sary to see if the egg is fertile. In mass the bad eggs are much lighter 
in color than are the fertile eggs. The eggs are deposited in a strip 
averaging from two to four rods wide near low tide, but above it at 
spring tide. It can be stated from personal observation that it is possible 
to walk for a quarter of a mile or more aiong such a strip without finding 
a single mass of bad eggs, although a mass covering a few square inches 
might be found occasionally. Taking into consideration that in many 
instances ten million eggs to the square foot would be a low estimate, 
the thoroughness of the fertilisation process may receive its proper 
appreciation. It is quite possible that the number of individual bad 
eggs in the smaller masses may bear a smaller ratio to the total number 
in the mass than the small masses of bad eggs bear to the number of 
such small masses in a large area. The evidence points that way. On 
a piece of eel grass 6 inches long there may be 300,000 eggs. The closest 
scrutiny will fail to reveal a single bad egg in the whole mass. Out of 
every egg in the mass, two bright, dark eyes shine forth, and as one 
looks at them with a lens every little herring will roll over in his shell 
to show that there is activity behind the dark eyes. Such an observa- 
tion has been repeated over and over again with the same result almost 
invariably. Unless the eggs are laid too close to the surface so that the 
water subsides before they are fertilised or unless they are covered up 
in some quiet spot immediately after deposition, their fertilisation is 
practically a certainty. 
Spawn may be deposited in an area of this nature practically unin- 
terrupted for 15 miles or more within a period of three or four days, 
which would indicate that it all comes from the same local race of herring. 
After the ducks have had their share and the various shore and shallow 
water fish have had their quota and other enemies have helped them- 
selves, it is quite probable that there would still be left on an average 
as many as a million to the square foot to hatch out. At such a rate 
the whole of such an area as that above mentioned would liberate 
about 4,000,000,000,000 young herring in one season. Such an area 
would be repeated several times along the coast of Vancouver Island, 
but to keep the figures conservative let us suppose that the fish caught 
by the Nanaimo fishermen came from this same race of fish. The catch 
for 1912-3 was approximately 25,000 tons. Taking 3.6 ounces as the 
average weight of a herring, there would be about 9,000 fish to the ton 
and in 25,000 tons there would be 225,000,000 fish. That number 
would be zg9 of one per cent. of the number given in the above esti- 
mate, or I in 20,000. It is quite evident that man’s endeavor to thin 
out the species is thus far of little significance. When the herring 
come into the shallow water to spawn they can be caught with the 
