144 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 
herring” have during these years doubtless been taken for small her- 
ring mixed with the spring herring. 
Professor Sars has advanced an opinion regarding the cause of the 
unexpected and numerous occurrence of the ‘new herring” which cor- 
responds with his well-known theory as to the cause of the disappear- 
ance and reappearance of the herrings on our coast during the so-called 
‘herring periods.” Professor Sars’s theory is certainly ingenious and 
contains ideas which well deserve to be further examined; but as regards 
the “new herring” Sars does not seem to have been so fortunate. It 
must be remembered, however, that it is only the experience gained 
during the last few years which has enabled us to form more correct 
opinions regarding this whole question, and that there are still questions 
of the most vital importance which have not yet been satisfactorily 
answered. 
In accordance with his theory Sars explains the occurrence of the 
‘new herring” in a similar manner, as in former timesg Léberg and 
Boeck have explained the arrival of the ray-herring prior to the be- 
ginning of the spring-herring fisheries. Sars is of opinion that the ““new 
herring” are principally “ray-herring,” 7. e., barren herring and partly 
young, and therefore not fully matured fish, both of which come nearer 
the coast than the spring herring. When theenormous schoolsof spring 
herring arrive, they drive the ‘new herring” towards the coast, and 
this would easily explain the early arrival of the “ new herring.” The 
fact that the ‘“‘new herring” appeared in such large numbers and were 
mixed with other herring, finds—accoyrding to Sars—its natural expla- 
nation in the fact that the great mass of the spring herring during 
this time have been compelled by meteorological causes to keep at an 
unusually great distance from the spawning places, and had therefore 
to pass over a much greater distance than otherwise would have been 
the case. The scattered schools of herring have thereupon been forced 
to give way by the irresistible advance of the great masses of spring 
_herring, and have by them been driven towards the shore. 
When Sars examined the herring fisheries the season of the year pre- 
vented him from personally observing the ‘new herring,” and he had 
to rely on the information furnished by other persons. He supposes 
that only a comparatively small portion of the ‘‘new herring” were 
fully matured. For this very reason, and because the so-called ‘her- 
ring food ”—small crustaceans, &c., is very scarce at the time when the 
‘‘new herring” come near the coast, Sars is compelled to look for some 
external cause which would force the herring to go near the coast. 
This theory of Sars’s is, as we have seen, not correct. By far the larger 
number of the ‘‘new herring” were ‘ray-herring,” which were not bar- 
ren, but had both roe and milt in different stages of development. It 
may be important to keep these facts in mind in endeavoring to ex- 
plain the arrival of the ‘“‘new herring.” It will not do to ignore the 
reproductite instinct, because the ‘new herring” doubtless contained 
