HAP. i.] ANNUAL INCREASE OF THE HERRING. 



as being correct, having found equally great quantities in fish 

 dissected by himself. 



Any of my readers who wish to manipulate these figures 

 may try by way of experiment a few calculations with the 

 herring. The produce of a single herring is, let us say, thirty- 

 six thousand eggs, but we may and the deduction is a most 

 reasonable one allow that half of these never come to life, 

 which reduces the quantity bom to eighteen thousand. Allow- 

 ing that the young fish will be able to repeat the story of their 

 birth in three years, we may safely calculate that the breeding- 

 stock by various accidents will by that time be reduced to 

 nine thousand individuals ; and granting half of these to be 

 females, or let us say, for the sake of rounding the figures, that 

 four thousand of them yield roe, we shall find by multiplying 

 that quantity by thirty-six thousand (the number of eggs in a 

 female herring) that we obtain a total of one hundred and 

 forty-four millions as the produce in three years of a single 

 pair of herrings ; and although half of these might be taken as 

 the food of man as soon as they were large enough, there would 

 still be left an immense breeding stock even after all deductions 

 for casualties had been given effect to ; so that the devastations 

 committed by man on the shoals while capturing for food uses 

 must be enormous if they affect, as I suppose, the reproductive- 

 ness of these useful animals. Of course this is but guess-work, 

 and is merely given as a basis for a more minute statement ; 

 but I have conversed with practical people who do not think 

 that, taking all times and seasons into account, even five per 

 cent of the roe of a herring comes to life, far less that such a 

 percentage reaches maturity as table fish. 



It is now well enough known, even to the merest tyros in 

 the study of natural history, and to anglers and others interested 

 as well, that the impregnation of fish-eggs is a purely external 

 act ; but at one time this was not believed, and even so lately 

 as six years ago a portion of the experiments at the Stor- 



