268 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



were in error, as he saw in these fish a new species of 

 Clupea, which he termed Clupea alba. M. Valenciennes 

 (1847) went still further, instituting a novel genus (Rogenia) 

 for their reception, while he remarked that some young 

 sprats were captured along with the true forms during the 

 months of April, May, and June. Dr. Giinther, the author 

 of the ' Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum (1867),' 

 did not coincide with any of the four previous writers, 

 retaining whitebait in the genus Clupea, and considering it 

 to be the young of the common herring. 



It is now universally admitted that the true whitebait 

 belongs to some species of the herring family ; but what 

 we wish to ascertain is, are such mature forms, as asserted 

 by Yarrell and Valenciennes, or immature fish, as believed 

 in by the majority of inquirers, and, as such, were formerly 

 protected by legislative enactments ? In this investigation 

 we must not lose sight of the fact that the herring family, 

 more especially among the species composing the genus 

 Clupea, possess many pelagic forms, which live together in 

 large assemblages or schools, the young of which but rarely 

 enter brackish, and never as a rule fresh, waters. That 

 these fishes are very variable in their migrations : abundant 

 some years, they occasionally forsake their haunts for 

 several successive seasons, returning again in enormous 

 quantities. This phenomenon is not peculiar to whitebait 

 in European seas, but is found to be universal. Another 

 peculiarity is that, the teeth being small and deciduous, 

 a considerable diversity may exist in examples of the same 

 species. 



Are whitebait mature fish ? This question has been 

 answered by most investigators in the negative, by Yarrell 

 in the affirmative ; while fortunately the specimens of this 

 last author, being still in the British Museum, are open to 



