106 PAPERS, ETC. 
and how many more will be found only varieties, is yet to 
be learned. 
The PıLcHARD, which is of such incaleulable value in 
Devon, Cornwall, and other parts, is out of its proper ele- 
ment in the Bristol Channel, and only a few stragglers 
are found on our coast. The cause is perhaps the same 
as that which keeps away the multitudes of mackerel and 
other fish. Full and very interesting information on the 
laws made in the reigns of several sovereigns for regulating 
pilchard fishing, and the consequent trade, is to be obtained 
from Couch’s “Cornish Fauna ;” and accounts of the aston- 
ishing quantities sometimes taken, and their great value, 
are given in Yarrell’s “ British Fishes.” 
The HERRING does not visit our shores regularly in 
shoals ; but sometimes, from September to January, large 
quantities are taken by drift and stake nets, along the 
whole line of coast westward, from the mouth of the 
Parret. A few are taken every autumn; and the herrings 
of the Bristol Channel are always delicious. 
The Sprar. This little fish affords the most valuable 
fishing that we have on the Somersetshire coast. Multi- 
tudes come here almost every October, and remain until 
January. They are caught by stake nets, chiefly at the 
Gore, and brought to the markets every day, and some- 
times after every tide. A paragraph in the TZaunton 
Courier, a few years ago, says that a ton of sprats 
was retailed in Taunton Market in one day ; and from 
information which I have collected with great care, I learn 
that the sprat fishing, from the western extremity of the 
Gore to Weston-Super-Mare, will produce in a good season 
more than £10,000, at the retail prices. 
The annual shoals of HERRINGS and SPRATS are great 
blessings to the poor, supplying abundance of good, fresh, 
