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which we are necessarily restricted compels us to limit our 

 notice of this well-known fish to one single point in its eco- 

 nomy its appearance on our coasts. 



By Pennant, the approach of the Herring (Clupea harengus) 

 has been described as that of a mighty army, which, coming 

 from the arctic circle, divides at the Shetland Isles into two 

 great bodies, one of which fills the creeks and bays of the 

 east coast of Britain, while the other, passing along the west, 

 separates towards the north of Ireland into two divisions 

 4 'one of which takes to the western side, and is scarcely 

 perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic; 

 but the other, which passes into the Irish Sea, rejoices and 

 feeds the inhabitants of the coasts that border on it, ' ' 



This account, though circumstantial, is altogether incorrect. 

 The Herring does not abound in the arctic seas; and the 

 division of the mighty army into brigades which pursue their 

 way along the eastern and western shores, is purely imaginary. 

 The Herring does perform a migration, but of a limited range. 

 It comes to the shores for the purpose of spawning; the 

 increased temperature and greater supply of oxygen being 

 necessary for the development of the young. The ova being 

 deposited, the Herring forsakes the shore for the deeper 

 water, where it habitually dwells. It is not a visitant from 

 a distant region, but a constant dweller in our own seas. It 

 comes to the coast for a specific purpose, and that purpose 

 being fulfilled, it again retreats to the deep water. 



The Pilchard was, like the Herring, supposed to migrate 

 from remote seas. Modern research has stripped the history 

 of both fishes of much that was marvellous; but the mere 

 emotion of wonder which is thus destroyed, is on a little 

 reflection succeeded by one of a deeper, more reverential, and 

 more abiding character. Under the impulse of the law by 

 which certain species of fishes are, at successive seasons, im- 

 pelled to approach the shores, the most effectual means are 

 provided for the continuance of each of the several kinds; 

 and while the perpetuation of the species is thus secured, 

 man is furnished with a varied and successive supply of food, 

 abundant, nutritious, and brought from the depths of the 

 ocean within the sphere of his activity and skill. This con- 

 stantly recurring yet ever varying phenomenon has in its 

 nature nothing of chance. It is a beneficent law, and reveals 

 a beneficent Author. 



