66 BRITISH IND USTRIES. 



on the coast of Scotland in August ; but, as we shall 

 see, the condition of the fish at the different places is 

 opposed to such an idea. In the north the herrings 

 are " full " in August and at the beginning of Sep- 

 tember ; then they spawn and disappear. Those 

 caught in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth are not 

 in the best condition that is, full of roe till Oc- 

 tober and November. It is extremely unlikely, 

 therefore, that they should belong to the great 

 shoals which were spawning two months earlier in 

 the north. Again, at the eastern end of the Channel 

 'the fish are full in November ; but on the Cornish 

 coast and in the west generally, the herrings are not 

 in spawning condition till December, or even a month 

 later. These differences appear to point to the shoals 

 being distinct and somewhat local, and are quite in- 

 consistent with any theory of general migration from 

 the Arctic Sea. 



At the Outer Hebrides and on the west coast of 

 Scotland, the herring fishery begins in some places as 

 early as April, and goes on continuously till nearly 

 the end of September, when the herrings spawn ; and 

 a separate winter fishery is carried on in January and 

 February. The fishermen in these parts say that the 

 herrings are always on that coast, but of course vary 

 in their condition at different times. The spawning 

 seasons there appear to be in September and February 

 or March. 



When we come to the Firth of Clyde, with the long- 

 famous fisheries in Lochfyne and the Kyles of Bute, we 

 find that the herring season is from June to September ; 



