CLASS OF FISHES. 387 



certain waters for a long period. From the middle of October 

 to the end of the year they abound in the part of the sea called 

 La Manche (the English Channel), and principally in the 

 Straits of Dover, as far as the mouth of the Seine. In July 

 and August they are generally found in the open sea, at a 

 distance from the coast, and the spawn has been found at 

 every season of the year. After spawning, they are poor and 

 of little value. Sixty thousand eggs have been found in a 

 single female of a medium size. In conclusion, but little is 

 known of the natural history of the young of these fishes.^ 



492. The sardine, mackerel, herring, and anchovy are 

 fish of passage, or migratory, which periodically visit our 

 shores and give rise to important fisheries. The salmon is 

 also equally remarkable for its journeys or voyages. It in- 

 habits all the Arctic Seas, and each spring it enters the rivers 

 in vast troops, to ascend them even to their sources. In 

 these emigrations the salmon follow a regular order, forming 

 two long files, reunited in front, conducted by the largest 

 female, which precedes, whilst the small males form the rear- 

 guard. These troops swim in general with much noise, 

 in the middle of rivers, and near the surface of the water if 

 the temperature be mild, but nearer the bottom if the heat be 

 great. In. general, salmon advance slowly, sporting as they 

 proceed : but if danger appears to threaten them, the rapidity 

 of their course becomes such that the eye can scarcely follow 

 them. If a dyke or cascade opposes their progress, they make 

 the greatest efforts to overcome it. Resting on some rock, 

 and extending the body suddenly and with violence, after 

 being curved, they spring out of the water, leaping occa- 



* The herring fishery was formerly, especially with the Dutch, a branch of 

 industry of great national importance ; and in the two provinces of Holland 

 Proper and West Friesland, two thousand vessels and more than eight 

 hundred thousand people were engaged in this fishery. Although much 

 diminished in importance everywhere, the various ports between Dunkirk 

 and the mouth of the Seine still employ from three to four hundred vessels 

 and about five thousand seamen in this fishery, and the products have been 

 valued at nearly four millions of francs. 



It is a net fishery, the nets being suspended in the sea like a wall : into 

 the meshes, which must be of a legal size, the herring enters head foremost 

 beyond the gill covers, and is thus caught between the gill covers and the 

 pectoral fin. If intended for salting, it should be done as soon as possible. 

 By the old Dutch laws, no herring was allowed to be salted after sunset. 

 The Dutch still maintain their superiority in the curing of herrings.f 



t The pilchard, still caught in great numbers on the coast of Cornwall, is a 

 fish analogous iu its habits to the herring. K. K, 



c c 2 



