THE PILCHARD. 571 



has been dead for some hours the cheeks and gill-covers become red, as 

 if from injected blood. 



The value of the Herring family to man is almost incalculable. The 

 Pilchard and the herring are very similar in appearance, but may 

 easily be distinguished by the position of the dorsal fin, which in the 

 Pilchard is so exactly in the centre of the body that if the fish is held 

 by it, the body exactly balances ; while in the herring the dorsal fin is 

 placed rather backward, so that when suspended the fish hangs with its 

 head downward. 



Unlike the herring, which visits every part of our coast, the Pilchard 

 is found only on the 

 shores of Devonshire 

 and Cornwall. Here, 

 however, the enor- 

 mous shoals that an- 

 nually make their ap- 

 pearance fully com- 

 pensate for the lim- 

 ited space occupied 



by them. Occasional- ^ ^ ,^, ., , , 



, r. V, 1-. . ^^^ Pilchard [Ctupea pilchardus). 



seen on the southern coast of Ireland. The coasts of France and 

 Spain are tolerably frequent resorts of this fish. 



The fish are usually taken in an enormous building of nets, called 

 "scan nets." The nets used in the sea-fishery are two — a large net, 

 called the "stop sean," about a quarter of a mile in length and a hun- 

 dred feet in depth ; and a smaller net, called the "tuck sean," about a 

 furlong in length, and a hundred and twenty feet in depth, the aver- 

 age value of the two nets being five hundred pounds. 



When the fishermen see a shoal of Pilchards approaching, they im- 

 mediately set out in two fishing-boats, one of which carries the tuck 

 sean and the other the stop sean. Guided by signs from the master- 

 seaman, they silently surround the shoal with the nets, the larger of 

 which is used to enclose a large number of fish, and the smaller to pass 

 within the other net, to bring the mass offish into a small compass, and 

 finally to prevent them from escaping until the fishermen have leisure 

 to remove them to the boats. 



When landed the Pilchards are taken to the storehouses, salted, and 

 after remaiuing in heaps for five or six days are pressed into casks by 

 powerful levers. During the pressure, which lasts about a fortnight, 

 fresh layers of fish being added as the former are pressed close, an 

 abundance of excellent oil escapes from holes made in the cask for the 

 purpose. The entire refuse of the fish, consisting of the superabundant 

 salt, the scales, and other rejected portions, is sold to the farmers as a 



