146 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. - [20] 
On the other hand, the spring herring have, during the last few 
years, arrived earlier in the season, and some mixed herring have 
been noticed, which was more unexpected now than during the years 
preceding 1870. Nor has there been any indication during the last few 
years of large masses of herring, or so-called ‘ herring-mountains,” 
such as were observed in olden times. 
Altogether it does not seem probable that, after 1869, any unusually 
large masses of spring herring came near the coast. It has always 
been an open question whether the spring herring, during those years 
when they did not visit their usual spawning places, had actually left 
our waters entirely, or whether these same masses of spring herring 
spawned at a greater distance from the coast, hoping to return to their 
former spawning places when the conditions should again become fa- 
vorable. The history of the last decade is of great importance for the 
final solution of this problem. In the beginning of the decade the 
prospects were very bright; large layers of roe were said to have been 
noticed on the bottom of the sea, and it was reported that there were 
large masses of herring far out in the deep waters. These reports 
were afterwards acknowledged to have been exaggerated. (See super- 
intendent’s report for 1872.) These favorable indications, however, soon 
began to disappear, and even at the outermost fishing station of Udsire 
there were, after 1873, no indications whatever of the presence of large 
masses of herring. On the other hand, there was a significant indica- 
tion of a decrease in the masses of herring, viz, the mixing of small 
herring among the schools, which became apparent as early as 1869, 
when the fisheries began to decline, and increased from year to year 
until the fisheries came to an end. In the enormous masses of her- 
ring, or the so-called “herring-mountains,” the herring are generally of 
the same size. When the fisheries again began to flourish, after 1876, it 
was not the former masses of great spring herring which returned, but 
comparatively small schools of herring which, as a general rule, were 
small, and which have gradually increased both in number and size, 
but have so far not formed regular ‘“ herring-mountains.” (These her- 
ring must be supposed to be descended from the “ new herring”; con- 
cerning this see farther on.) No one can deny that the former masses 
of spring herring have disappeared. It cannot be supposed that they 
were driven away by smaller herring; but they would have disap- 
peared, even if these smaller herring had never shown themselves. 
For these reasons I cannot agree with Sars in his theory regarding 
the ‘new herring.” 
I shall now continue my review of the history of the “new herring” 
after the season of 1869-1870, the principal events of which are as fol- 
lows: 
As I have mentioned before, the ‘‘new herring” in 1869-1870, visited 
a considerable extent of coast, and this continued to be the case during 
the following seasons. In 1870-1871 they spread still farther, espe- 
