THE PILCHARD. 26.5 



Description Numeipus on the western coasts. 



if exposed only a few minutes to the rays of the 

 sun, they are quite useless, and will not take the 

 salt. There are about eleven species of the her- 

 ring, the principal of which are as follow. 



THE PILCHARD. 



THIS is a smaller species of herring : the chief 

 difference between them is, that the body of the 

 pilchard is round and thick; the nose shorter in 

 proportion, turning up, and the under jaw shorter. 

 The back is more elevated, and the belly not 

 so sharp. The scales also adhere very closely, 

 while those of the herring easily drop off. The 

 dorsal fin in the pilchard is also so backward, 

 that the fish, when held up by it, dips from an 

 horizontal line forward; but when the herring is 

 held up by its dorsal fin, it remains in equili- 

 brio. 



About the middle of July the pilchards appear 

 in vast shoals off the coasts of Cornwall. These 

 shoals remain till the latter end of October, when 

 it is probable they retire to some undisturbed 

 deep, at a little distance, for the winter. It has 

 been, supposed, but improperly, that, like the 

 herring, they migrated into the Arctic regions. 

 If pilchards performed any migration north- 

 wards, we should certainly have heard of their 

 being occasionally seen and caught on their pas- 

 sage; but of this we have HO one authenticated 



VOL. v. NO. 36. 2 L 



