214 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
the principal opportunity is afforded for the prosecution of the 
sean-fishery.” The quantity of pilchards taken is sometimes 
incredibly large. In 1847, a very productive year, 40,000 hogs- 
heads were cured in Cornwall alone, representing probably, after 
all deductions, a net value to the takers of £80,000. The Sar- 
dine (Clupea sardina), a fish closely allied to the Pilehard 
though smaller, is considered as the most savoury of all the 
herring tribe. It is chiefly found in the Mediterranean, on the 
coasts of South France and Africa, and about the islands of 
Corsica and Sardinia, where it plays a no less important part 
than the Pilchard on the coasts of Cornwall and Devonshire. 
Though a much less valuable fish than its larger-sized rela- 
tives, the diminutive Sprat is not to be despised. Coming into 
the market in immense quantities, and at a very moderate 
price, immediately after the herring season is over, it affords 
during all the winter months a cheap and agreeable food. Like 
all other species of the herring tribe, the sprats are capricious 
wanderers, and make their appearance in exceedingly variable 
numbers. The coasts of Kent, Essex, and Suffolk, are the most 
productive. So great is the supply thence obtained, that not- 
withstanding the immense quantity consumed by the vast 
population of London and its neighbourhood, there is yet occa- 
sionally a surplus to be disposed of at so low a price, as to in- 
duce the farmers, even so near the metropolis as Dartford, to 
use them for manure. 
The Mediterranean seems to be the peculiar birthplace of 
the Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicholus), where it appears in 
the spawning season 
in countless multitudes 
along the shallow coasts. 
Aion Pret / It is about four inches 
< “A long, of a bluish-brown 
Anchovy. colour on the back, and 
silvery-white on the 
belly. It is covered with large thin and easily deciduous scales, 
and may be readily distinguished from the Sprat and other 
kindred species by the anal fins being remarkably short. 
It is mostly caught in the neighbourhood of Antibes, Frejus, 
and St. Tropez, and sent pickled in enormous quantities 
