THE HERRING 141 



his lecture on the herring, " that in a dark night, when the 

 water is phosphorescent, or, as the fishermen say, there 

 is plenty of ' merefire,' it is a curious spectacle to watch 

 the effect of sharply tapping the side of the boat as it 

 passes over a shoal. The herrings scatter in all directions, 

 leaving streaks of light behind them, like shooting stars." J 

 A herring is notorious for the number of bones which 

 it contains long, slender, needle-like bones, which stand 

 out in unexpected places, and occasionally stick in the 

 throat of a hasty feeder. It is worth while to clear the 

 flesh away from an inch or two of the backbone of a herring, 

 towards the middle of the body, and thus expose the bones. 

 There are various ways of doing this. I can often succeed 

 in dissecting the herring on my plate with a table knife. 

 An anatomist who is perfectly indifferent to bad smells, 

 would prefer to macerate the fish, that is, put it in a dish 

 of water, and set it on the roof until the flesh is so soft that 

 it can be washed away with a gentle stream of water. 

 Boil the herring, if you prefer that plan, but you will have 

 to be extremely cautious in handling the boiled fish, for 

 it will fall to pieces at a touch. It is better to souse it in 

 boiling water, scrape, brush, or pick away as much flesh 

 as will come off easily, souse it again, and go on until you 

 have got a few vertebrae free of flesh and quite perfect. 

 You will find them very different from the vertebrae of a 

 rabbit or any quadruped. The bodies or centra of the 

 herring's vertebrae are cupped at both ends, a weak form 

 of articulation, but strong enough for an animal whose 

 weight is supported by so dense a medium as water. But 

 the most noteworthy point about the vertebral column of 

 the herring is that it sends out two sets of ribs, an upper 

 and a lower set, besides dorsal spines. Where the tail 

 begins the arrangement is further complicated by the 

 addition of more bones, many of which are very loosely 

 connected with the back-bone. Some of these last are 

 forked, so that the herring really deserves its reputation 



1 Huxley's Collected Works, vol. iv. pp. 473-492. 



