316 



NA TURA L HIS TOR Y. 



Fig. 301. — Herring (C'lupea harengus). 



grocery store, ranks an easy first among food fishes. It spreads over the 

 whole north Atlantic, south to New York and the Bay of Biscay, and is 

 even more extensively fished for in Europe than upon our own shores ; and 

 the total annual catch is estimated at 1,500,000,000 pounds, with the prob- 

 ability that even this enormous amount is too low. The herring move in 

 vast schools, some of which cover many square miles. Concerning their 



migrations there is 

 great uncertainty. 

 All the investi- 

 gations of natu- 

 ralists and fisher- 

 men have not yet 

 solved the prob- 

 lem ; and yet they 

 are doubtless sub- 

 ject to certain laws of nature. For years they will appear each season at a 

 certain spot, and then the next year there will not be a single one. This 

 irregularity is far more marked on the European than on our shores. The 

 shoals apparently come from the north to the more southern shores to 

 lay their eggs. These immense schools feed upon what would at first 

 sight appear inadequate, — the minute microscopic crustaceans and embryo 

 molluscs. Yet these are so abundant that they really furnish an abun- 

 dance of food for all the herring, and millions upon millions of other fish 

 besides. These the herring strain from the water. They swim, open- 

 mouthed, and the water which passes the lips goes out through the gills ; 

 but not so these almost microscopic animals. These are retained by little 

 spines which arise from the arches of the gills, and form a small sieve, or 

 lattice work, the meshes of which are too small to allow even these atoms 

 to pass. 



With us the herring is of far less consequence than it is in Europe. 

 Oar annual catch is estimated at 43,000,000 pounds, while our provincial 

 neighbors take 200,000,000. In Europe they are preserved in many ways, 

 while with us only two are prominent. Of smoked herring eastern Maine 

 produces 370,000 boxes each year, while the young, packed in boxes with 

 French and Italian labels, are sold as sardines to the amount of nearly 

 2,500,000 pounds. An immense number are also used as bait in the cud 

 and other fisheries. 



Equally or even more abundant on our coasts and reaching farther to 

 the south is the menhaden or pogy, which is farther blessed with about 

 thirty additional common names. Where they spend the winter is unknown. 

 The probability is that they live in the deep and warmer water off the 



