THE SPRATS AND THE PILCHARD. 507 



The Sprat (Skarp-sill ; Hvass-buk, i.e. sharp-belly, 

 Sw.; JBrisliny, Norvv. and Dan.; Clupea Sprattus [Linn.?], 

 Nilss.) was also common in our Skargard, though less so 

 than the Herring; and elsewhere on the western coast, 

 from the extreme south of Sweden to at least as high up 

 as Drontheim, in Norway. As yet its limits to the north- 

 ward seem not fully ascertained. It is also pretty common 

 in the Baltic to 60 of latitude, which would appear to be 

 about its northern boundary as regards that sea. The 

 usual length of this fish, according to Kroyer, is from 

 four to five inches. Like its congener, the Herring, it 

 swims in shoals. It is said to "lek" at somewhat 

 different periods ; on the west coast in July and August, 

 but in the Baltic in October and November. 



The C. Sclioneveldii, Kroyer, though not acknowledged 

 by Swedish ichthyologists, is included in the Danish 

 fauna. It is found, according to Kroyer, in the Sound, 

 in Isefjord (in the island of Zealand), and in some of the 

 Jutlandic fjords, though not, so far as he is aware, on 

 the coast of Norway. He describes it as about the same 

 size as the Sprat, but as having a smaller head, greater 

 body-height, and a sharper belly than that fish. Nilsson, 

 however, does not consider it as a distinct species, but as 

 merely a variety of (7. Sprattus. 



The Pilchard (C. Pilchardus, Bloch). Until very 

 lately, only a single specimen of this fish had been cap- 

 tured in the Scandinavian seas. This was in 1849, near 

 Kullen, in the upper part of the Sound. It was a female 

 of about ten inches in length, and her roe was in a mature 

 state. But within the past year or so, M. Malm has 

 identified a second example in the Bohus Skargard. 



The Twaite Shad (Stam-sill, Sw. ; Stam-sild, Norw. 

 and Dan. ; Alosa Fiiita, Cuv.) is somewhat scarce in the 

 Bohus Skiirgard and on the western coasts of Sweden and 

 Norway, where it has been taken as high up as Bergen. 



