550 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



which may be contained in one shoal, if it covers half a dozen square miles, and shoals of much 

 larger size are on record. It is safe to say that, scattered through the North Sea and the Atlantic, 

 at one and the same time, there must be scores of shoals, any one of which would go a long way 

 toward supplying the whole of man's consumption of Herrings." 



NAME. So well known was the Herring from the earliest days to the inhabitants of Northern 

 Europe and to their descendants who migrated to the western shores of the Atlantic, that one 

 name serves to designate the fish in the languages of a majority of the peoples to whom it is 

 known. Its name in English, German, and Dutch, though differently spelled, is pronounced in 

 exactly the same way. To the Scandinavian tribes it is known by the name " Sill." France in 

 the name Clvp6e employs a form of the Latin name for fishes of this group by which the same 

 fish is known to these nations when described in the language of their men of science. There are 

 certain local names for the Herring which are used not to replace the general one, but to designate 

 certain conditions and ages. To this class belongs the name "Sperling," employed by our own 

 fishermen of Cape Ann to denote the young Herrings. Corresponding to this name the word 

 "Striimming" is used in Sweden. British fishermen, according to Huxley, distinguish four states 

 of the Herring: (1) "Fry," or "Sill," for the young fish when not larger than sprats; (2) "Matics," 

 a name which is a corruption of the Dutch word for a maiden ; Herrings in this class are larger 

 than fry, but with undeveloped roe or milt; (3) "Full," fish with larger developed roe or milt; 

 and (4) "Spent" or "Shotten," fish which have recently spawned. "Maties," when gorged with 

 their favorite food, small crustaceans, are called by the Scotch fishermen "Gut-pock" Herrings. 

 In Sweden, according to Widegren, the following names are known in the trade: "Norwegian 

 Heiring," "Graben Herring," "Fat Herring," "Gottenburg" or "Bohusliiu" Herring, "Kullu 

 Herring," "Bleking Herring," "Small Herring," "Anchovies," "Skarp Herring," "Spiced Herring," 

 etc. 1 



These names are cited to indicate how many variations are customarily made upon the well- 

 known name of Herring. In the United States there are few trade names for this fish, though a 

 large portion of our Herring pass from producer to consumer under a name which is intentionally 

 deceptive, that of "French Sardine," and a few are canned in spices and sold under the still more 

 imaginative name ot "brook" and "sea" trout. "Bloater," " Digby Chicken," and "Hard 

 Herring" are other trade names used on this side of the Atlantic, the significance of which will be 

 explained in the paragraph relating to "economic uses." 



Small Herring are frequently called "Brit" by the fishermen, of Eastern New England. 

 "Anchovy" is another name for these small fish still in use among our fishermen and had its 

 origin in one of the devices of trade. 



By far the most confusing congeries of names, however, is to be found in the literature pro- 

 duced in such lavish quantities during the past twenty years by the Scandinavian naturalists who 

 have been attempting to reconcile with fact the theories prevalent among fishermen and others 

 in Northern Europe concerning the movements of the different schools of Herring and the race 

 characteristics and habits which were supposed to characterize them. 



In the "Preliminary Report for 1873-'74 on the Herring and the Herring Fisheries of the 

 West Coast of Sweden," by A. V. Ljungman, 2 are given numerous names of this sort, such as 

 "Boundary Herring," "Grass Herring," "Great Herring," "Norwegian Winter Herring," "Nor- 

 wegian Fall Herring," "Old Herring," "Real Sea Herring," "Cattegat Herring," "Sea Herring," 



'United States Fish Commission Report, part vi, p. 124. 



Translation in United States Fish Commission Report, part iii, 1876. pp. 123-167. 



