26 THE SILVERY HOSTS OF THE NORTH SEA. 



chain, the greater part of which stood on rocks, with 

 only one end of it reaching the channel. He found 

 the nets placed in the channel caught a large number 

 of herrings, while those on the rocks caught none, 

 except in that portion touching the channel ; and he 

 draws attention to the "large level places at the 

 bottom of the sea covered with rough gravel, which 

 in calm weather are the herrings' favourite spawning 

 places." He raised with the dredge large lumps of 

 roe and gravel intermixed, and he notices that "in 

 these places the largest number of herring is invari- 

 ably caught." In other places, frequented by the 

 herring in spawning time, large masses of spawn 

 have been dragged up from the bottom in the form 

 of thick cakes, likened to tapioca pudding, and fisher- 

 men often find the spawn sticking to their nets, which 

 it does by means of a glutinous substance which 

 hardens soon after being extruded from the fish. 

 In Scotland, herring spawn in August to Septem- 

 ber ; on the east coast of England from September to 

 October and November ; and in the English Channel 

 later still in the autumn. 



Herring are known as hard and soft roed : the hard 

 roe being the female, and the soft the male. The roe 

 is composed of thousands of small eggs, while the 

 milt is the fertilizer. When the spawn (the roe) is first 

 extruded, it is found covered with a sticky substance 

 which, as the eggs fall to the bottom, or come into 

 contact with other substances, causes them to adhere 

 firmly. Their period of development depends largely 

 upon temperature : in cold weather they take eighteen 



