THE HERRING FISHERIES. 



THE increasing interest shown year after year in all 

 matters connected with our fisheries is a sign of the times 

 that can neither be overlooked nor under-valued. It is 

 practically a recantation of the doctrine that the subject 

 was one merely concerning professors and students of 

 natural history, and an acknowledgment that, considered 

 with reference to British industry and commerce, it is a 

 matter of paramount importance. One of the most inter- 

 esting divisions of the fisheries is the herring fishery. It is 

 interesting, not only on account of the large number of 

 persons which it employs, and its influence on the country 

 financially, but on account of the natural history of the 

 herring, of the theories which have been advanced and 

 overthrown respecting its migration, and of the veil of 

 mystery which for a long time hid the secret of its repro- 

 duction from human understanding. It is obvious that 

 whatever tends to elucidate and clear up disputed points in 

 its natural history must react in a beneficial manner com- 

 mercially. The record of the last few years has been far 

 from being a blank page in this respect ; but perhaps, for 

 the sake of completeness, it will be well to state a few of 

 the earlier facts ascertained of the natural history of the 

 herring. 



