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ABOUT THE HERRING. 



colours are a glaucous green on the back, and silvery 

 white on the belly and sides ; when dead, the green 

 changes into blue, and in a dark place the whole body is 

 invested with a kind of phosphorescence. 



THE HERRING. 



The herring inhabits the waters of the Northern 

 Hemisphere, and is found in every sea from the North 

 Pole to the 50th parallel of latitude, but it is specially and 

 particularly a fish of the temperate regions. It is gre- 

 garious ; and at certain seasons it leaves the deep water 

 in immense shoals, or banks, of several leagues in extent, 

 and of an extraordinary compactness, and approaches the 

 shore. These banks are sometimes so dense that the fish 

 composing them literally suffocate themselves by thou- 

 sands in the shallows ; and the nets of the fishermen are 

 torn asunder by the weight of their capture. 



