FAMILY CLUPEID.E; HERRING FISHERY. 47 



and, like other fishes whose habit is the same, their gill-openings 

 are large, their respiration considerable in amount, their muscular 

 energy great, and their demand for oxygen so constant, that, 

 when taken out of the water, they speedily die. The Pilchard, 

 Sprat, Shad, White-Bait, Sardine, and Anchovy, are all more or 

 less closely allied to the Herring, the last departing from it 

 most widely. The range of the Pilchard, which abounds on 

 the Cornish coast, is more southern than that of the Herring ; 

 and the Anchovy and Sardine replace the Herring in the Medi- 

 terranean, where 

 it is unknown. 

 The importance of 

 the Herring and 

 Pilchard Fisher- 



FIG. 276. ANCHOVY. 



ies is very great. 



Some notion of it may be formed from the fact, that nearly 

 500,000 barrels of herrings only have been cured in one year ; of 

 which more than half were exported. The number of persons to 

 whom this Fishery gives employment in various ways, must, there- 

 fore, be very considerable, though it cannot be exactly estimated ; 

 and the value of the product as an article of export trade is very 

 important. The total number of persons directly employed in 

 the Cod and Herring fisheries of Britain, as Fishermen, Coopers, 

 Curers, &c., was nearly 87,000 in the year 1836. Of the extent 

 of the Pilchard fishery some idea may be formed from the fact, 

 that about 12,000,000 of these fish have been sold for home 

 consumption alone in a single year ; and it is said that more 

 than this number have been brought into one port in a single 

 day. The principal centre of the Herring fishery is at Yarmouth 

 in Norfolk ; that of the Pilchard fishery is the neighbourhood of 

 the Land's End. 



572. With the preceding order is arranged by Cuvier the 

 Lepidosteus or Bony Pike, which has many of the characters of 

 the Pike, with the structure of the head of the Herring. It 

 differs from both these, however, in having the body covered 

 with a case composed of dense bony square scales ; which are so 

 fitted together as to form a most complete armour. An in- 



