98 FISHES DIAGRAM 5. 



small coloured spots like trout. Salmon live in the sea, but they 

 ascend the streams and rivers every year, sometimes to a long 

 distance, to spawn. When they have deposited their spawn, 

 they return to the sea till the following year. The flesh of the 

 salmon is red, and highly esteemed in countries where these 

 fish are not common, as in England and France. Their eggs 

 are comparatively large. They can, after being laid, be carried 

 to a great distance in damp moss, to be transferred to rivers 

 which the salmon do not generally ascend. When the young 

 are hatched, they remain at first motionless at the bottom of the 

 water; they then begin to swim, and make their way towards 

 the sea. 



Herrings. The herring family includes the herrings, the 

 anchovies, and the sardines, and it is one of those which are most 

 useful for food. 



The A nchovy is chiefly found in the Mediterranean, though it is 

 not uncommon on our coasts. It is generally eaten potted, or 

 made into sauce. 



The Sardine is common on the coast of Brittany, where they fish 

 for them with floating nets on the surface of the water, and pre- 

 serve them in two ways ; the first are either salted and put into 

 barrels, or else they are fried, and put into tin boxes with oil, 

 which are soldered up. 



The Herring appears on our coasts in shoals, like the sardines, 

 but it forms larger banks, as they are called ; and it also appears 

 later ; and while they fish for sardines in the summer, the herring 

 only begins to appear about the end of September, or the beginning 

 of October. They are then taken in prodigious quantities, and 

 cost almost nothing in seaport towns. The boats go out to fish 

 for them by hundreds. They are taken by floating nets of great 

 length, in which they entangle their gills. When there is good 

 fishing, it does not take more than two hours for the net to be 

 loaded with fish. The herring is sold fresh, but is also preserved 

 in various ways ; it is salted, pickled in vinegar, or smoked by 

 putting it into the smoke of a fire made of resinous wood. 



