OSSEOUS FISHES. 577 



finest herrings are caught on Loch Fyne, on the west coast of 

 Scotland. 



The herrings are gregarious fishes, and live in great shoals closely 

 packed together ; shoals to he counted not hy hundreds, but by thousands 

 and tens of thousands, in many a shore and bay. It was the favourite 

 theory, not very long ago, that herrings emigrated to and from the 

 arctic regions. It was asserted, by the supporters of this theory, that 

 in the inaccessible seas of high northern latitudes herrings existed in 

 overwhelming numbers, an open sea within the arctic circle affording 

 a safe and bounteous feeding-ground. At the proper season vast 

 bodies gathered themselves together into one great army, which, in 

 numbers exceeding the powers of imagination, departed for more 

 southern regions. This great Heer, or army, was subdivided, by some 

 instinct, as they reached the different shores, led, according to the 

 ideas of fishermen, by herrings of more than ordinary size and sagacity, 

 one division taking the west side of Britain, while another took the 

 east side, the result being an adequate and well-divided supply oi 

 herrings, which penetrated every bay and arm of the sea round our 

 coast, from Wick to Yarmouth. Closer observation, however, shows 

 that this theory has no existence in fact. Lacepede denies that those 

 periodical journeyings take place. Valenciennes also rejects them. It 

 is true that the herrings have disappeared in certain neighbourhoods 

 in which they were formerly very plentiful ; but it is also certain that, 

 in many of the fishing stations, fish are taken all the year round. 

 Moreover, the discovery that the herring of America is probably a 

 distinct species from that of Europe (which, smoked, is known as the 

 " Digby Chick ") is against the theory. In short, there is a total 

 absence of proof of their pretended migrations to high northern 

 latitudes ; and recent discoveries all tend to show that the herring is 

 native to the shores on which it is taken. 



" It has been demonstrated," says Dr. Bertram, " that the herring 

 is really a native of our immediate seas, and can be caught all the year 

 round on the coast of the three kingdoms. The fishing begins at the 

 island of Lewis, in the Hebrides, in the month of May, and goes on as 

 the year advances, till in July it is being prosecuted off the coast of 

 Caithness ; while in autumn and winter we find large supplies of 

 herrings at Yarmouth ; there is a winter fishery in the Firth of Forth. 

 Moreover, this fish is found in the south long before it ought to be 



2 P 



