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CHAPTER XIIL 



ICHTHYOLOGY CONTINUED. THE HERRING. 



THE herring clupea harengus of Linnaeus is 

 distinguished from other fish of the same genus 

 by its peculiar lower jaw, and the seventeen rays 

 of its anal fin. It is about a foot in length, of a 

 dusky green colour above, and silvery beneath. 

 The head is small, the eye large and of a silvery 

 white. Its scales are easily rubbed off ; and with 

 the exception of the tail, which is large and fork- 

 ed, the fins are small and of a light colour. 



This fish is more generally employed as an 

 article of food than any other : it forms an ele- 

 gant and dainty dish upon the pompous table of 

 the rich ; among the middle classes it is in uni- 

 versal estimation ; and with no other " appli- 

 ances or means to boot" than the boiled potato, 

 it forms a substantial and grateful meal to the 

 poor and needy. We find it in the palace, and 

 we meet with it in the pauper's cabin. It was 

 well known to our ancestors ; but, from their 

 ignorance of the means of preserving it, they did 

 not make it, as it now is, an article of commerce. 



