130 SUPPOSED MIGRATORY MOVEMENTS. 



divides into two main branches : of these the right wing 

 steers towards the west, and arrives in March on the 

 coasts of Iceland ; the left wing moves eastward, and, in 

 a certain latitude, breaks up into several shoals. Some 

 repair to the Newfoundland Bank ; others make for the 

 coast of Norway, and pass through the Sound into the 

 Baltic Sea. Others progress towards the northern point 

 of Jutland, and after remaining there for a considerable 

 period, rejoin the legions of the Baltic by sailing through 

 the Cattegat. They keep together for a while, and once 

 more separate, to repair to the shores of Holland, the 

 Texel, and the Zuyder-Zee. 



The heer, says Pennant, which moves westward, is the 

 most numerous. Having arrived off the Scottish coast, 

 it divides into two columns, one of which sails south- 

 ward to the English waters, and those of Friesland, Zea- 

 land, Brabant, and France ; the other visits Iceland. 

 Finally, the scattered shoals meet together in the English 

 Channel, severely weakened by the immense losses they 

 have sustained, and disappear in the Atlantic Ocean. 



It is added that each shoal or battalion measures five 

 or six miles in length, and three or four miles in breadth ; 

 and is led, in the belief of the fishermen, by herrings 

 (probably the alice and twaite shad) of superior size and 

 sagacity. 



But to this theory we must advance some very forcible 

 objections. It is obvious, for instance, that if the main 

 heer, having started in one vast body from the Arctic 

 Seas, separate in the latitude of Iceland into two columns, 

 one of which makes for Europe and the other for America, 

 these two columns should arrive at nearly the same time 

 on the coasts of the Old and New Continents. But, on 



