HEREING. 295 



printers, with a view to the formation of a Fasciculus 

 of the Transactions. I have also had a good deal to do 

 for the Board of Fisheries, and took the latter and Mr 

 Secretary Primrose down as far as Ballantrae in March, 

 to examine the great spawning ground for herring there. 

 It is, so far as I know, the only ascertained bank resorted 

 to by herrings for the purpose of procreation, and the 

 Board has been petitioned to stop the spring fishery there 

 as destructive to the spawn as well as parent fish. But 

 it is an awkward thing to interfere with the sustenance 

 of a poor population, especially when drawn from the sea, 

 which calls no man master. However, I have laid the 

 case before the Board in a report on its various bearings. 

 In these, and unfortunately many other matters, I am 

 one of the ' great unpaid.' Of literary work on my own 

 account, I have done little or nothing since I saw you. 

 A few weeks ago, Professor Fraser, the editor of the 

 North British Review, came down in a dilemma regarding 

 a very long and elaborate article on Dr Chalmers's life, 

 including the forthcoming volume, by Isaac Taylor, which 

 had been promised hi time for his May number. Mean- 

 while, poor Taylor had lost a daughter, and his being able 

 to finish his essay in time became doubtful. So Fraser 

 came to me to see if I would run up a natural history 

 article of any kind as a stop-gap, and I set to and got 

 through with an ornithological concern, taking Gould's 



