MIGRATION OF HERRINGS. 23 



it is the object. It inhabits the northern seas, and arrives every 

 year in innumerable legions upon different parts of the coasts of 

 Europe, Asia, and America, but never descends below the 45th 

 degree of north latitude. Some naturalists think that all these 

 shoals of herrings periodically retire beneath tlie ice of the polar 

 seas, and set out from this common retreat in an immense 

 column, which, by subdividing itself, is spread out over nearly 

 all the coasts situated above the parallel which we have men- 

 tioned. They have even gone so far as to trace upon the chart 

 the journeyings of these shoals ; but this long migration, and 

 this common rendezvous in the arctic regions, are far from being 

 demonstrated ; and there is reason to believe that these events 

 do not take place in this manner. It is very near our coasts 

 that the herrings deposit their eggs, and it is probable that the 

 young very soon retire into the depth of the sea, and there 

 direct themselves towards the north, where they meet in great 

 abundance with the small Crustacea and Animalcula, which are 

 fitted to serve them as food. In the spring, other wants bring 

 them towards the shore, and cause them to seek shallower and 

 warmer water. They collect themselves into immense shoals, and 

 descend towards the south ; but after having arrived in the Baltic, 

 upon the coasts of Holland, and even as far as Brittany,' we do not 

 see them retake the route to the north, to pass the winter 

 under the ice of the pole, and to recommence in the following 

 spring their pretended periodical journey. 



567. However this may be, in the months of April and 

 May, Herrings begin to show themselves in the waters of the 

 Isles of Shetland ; and, towards the end of June and July, they 

 arrive there in an incalculable number, forming large shoals, 

 which sometimes cover the surface of the sea to an extent of 

 several leagues, and which are several hundred feet in thickness. 

 Soon afterwards, these fish are spread along the coasts of Scotland 

 and England. During the months of September and October, 

 they give place to larger fish ; and from the middle of October 

 until the end of the year, they abound on the north coast of 

 France, principally from the Straits of Calais to the mouth of 

 the Seine. In July and August, they generally remain in the 



