at 



GREA T BRITAIN. 303 



from May until September vary with the season, for when 

 investigating the whitebait question in 1878, among 

 examples from the Thames and Medway, I found the 

 proportions of herrings to sprats to be about as follows : 

 May and June, ten to one ; August, sprats rather more 

 than half ; October, all herrings ; while of the winter 

 whitebait given me by Mr. Charles from the Medway, all 

 were sprats. On August I3th, this year (1881), innumer- 

 able young sprats were being taken at the same place as 

 bait for gurnards, although they appeared to be entirely 

 absent from Penzance, which was locally attributed to 



e bay being too sandy ; and I saw a solitary example 

 at Mevagissey, captured among pilchards. 



As food. These fish are very deservedly esteemed, espe- 

 cially when not too large. As they are nutritious and 

 cheap, they are a boon to the poorer classes. They are 

 sold by measure. 



In some parts of Scotland they are thus preserved : 

 selected fish are washed in salt and water, then threaded 

 on wire skewers, and suspended for two hours in a pick- 

 ling vat, so that no two fishes touch one another. On 

 being removed they are hung up in a current of air until 

 the next day, when they are smoked like bloaters, until they 

 assume a yellow colour. They will keep four or five days, 

 and additional pickling and smoking will enable them to 

 keep longer. 



An important trade appears to be springing up at 

 Lowestoft, where they are being tinned as anchovies. 

 Three million tins of sprats, similarly cured as anchovies 

 on the west coast of France, are annually imported into 

 this country. Those taken off Finisterre are found to 

 possess a muddy flavour, but they are exported by some 

 second-rate mercantile houses. 



