CHAP, vi.] EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONERS. 235 



Turning now to the report of the commissioners appointed 

 to inquire into the operation of the Acts relating to trawling 

 for herring on the west coast of Scotland, we obtain some in- 

 teresting information as to the spawning and growth of the 

 herring. Upon these branches of the subject the public have 

 hitherto been very ill informed. As has been already stated, 

 YarrelTs account of this particular fish is a mere compilation 

 from Dr. M'Culloch, W. H. Maxwell, Dr. Parnell, and others, 

 and is thus very disappointing. Again, the account in the 

 Naturalist's Library is compressed into five small pages, re- 

 ferring chiefly to authorities on the subject, with quotations 

 from Yarrell ! It is only by searching in Blue Books, by 

 perusing much newspaper writing of a controversial kind, 

 and by arduous personal inquiry, that I have been able to 

 complete anything like an accurate precis of the natural and 

 economic history of this very plentiful fish. 



As to the periods at which herrings spawn, the com- 

 missioners appointed to conduct the latest inquiry that has 

 been made inform us that they met with "singularly con- 

 tradictory" statements, and after having collected a large 

 amount of valuable evidence, they arrived at the conclusion 

 that herrings spawn at two seasons of the year viz. in the 

 spring and autumn. They have no evidence of a spawn- 

 ing during the solstitial months viz. June and December ; 

 but in nearly all the other months gravid herrings are found, 

 and the commissioners assert that a spring spawning certainly 

 occurs in the latter part of January, as also in the three fol- 

 lowing months, and the autumn spawning in the latter end of 

 July, and likewise in the following months up to November : 

 " Taking all parts of the British coast together, February and 

 March are the great months for the spring spawning, and 

 August and September for the autumn spawning." The 

 spawn, it may be stated in passing, is deposited on the surface 

 of the stones, shingle, and gravel, and on old shells, at the 



