NAMES OF THE HEIMMNd. .-,.-,1 



"Fjord Herring," "Sn.tdi Dutrli liming," "Lard Herring," " Hnlf Herring," and "Teiui.-r 

 Herring." In this report Mr. Ljtingman attempted to distinguish and described at least four varie- 

 ties, and in so doing was much more conservative than his predecessor, Professor Nilsson, (f) who 

 in the year 183li described, under binomial names, as distinct species eight of the forms known in 

 his country under separate popular names. In a later report on the salt-water fisheries of Bonus- 

 Ian. published in isTS, 1 Mr. Ljungmau, who had, in the six years intervening between this date 

 and the writing of his first essay, devoted much time to the study of the subject, appears to have 

 abandoned his early idea, since he makes no attempt to distinguish the races, and simply 

 announces himself as maintaining that "more than one race of Herrings may be found in one and 

 the same place." 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The Herring is found in the temperate and colder parts of 

 the North Atlantic. On the west its range extends south to Sandy Hook, at the entrance of New 

 York Harbor, where they are found occasionally in midwinter, and on the north as far as Northern 

 Labrador, diminishing in numbers perhaps toward the northern extreme. On the east its southern 

 limit is in the vicinity of the Bay of Biscay, while northward it is found in the White Sea and on 

 the southern shores of Spitzbergen. It of course does not enter the Mediterranean, though it is 

 abundant in the North Sea and in the Baltic. Huxley hazards the conjecture that it perhaps 

 inhabits some parts of the North Sea, and states that there is a very similar, if not identical, 

 species in the North Pacific. His surmise as to the identity of the Pacific Herring with that of 

 the Atlantic is not confirmed by the recent careful explorations of Dr. Bean in that region. 

 The fish which he had in mind is probably C. mirabilix. 



On onr own coast Herring are not known to enter water which is in the least degree brackish, 

 except occasionally in the spawning season in Saint Andrew's Bay, where the admixture of fresh 

 water is but slight. According to Professor Huxley, Herrings spawn freely not only in the nar- 

 rows of the Baltic, such as the Great Belt, in which the water is not half as salt as it is in the 

 North Sea and in the Atlantic, but even in such long inlets as the Schlei in Schleswig, the water 

 of which is quite drinkable and is inhabited by fresh-water fish. 



" Ljunginan 2 cites instances in which Herrings are said to have ascended rivers in Sweden and 

 Germany to a distance of several miles. The same author, however, seems inclined to believe that 

 the Herring is far from having a predilection for fresh water, and that the few instances in which 

 they have been observed spawning in brackish waters have been purely incidental and induced 

 by the fact that suitable spawning places could not be found in waters of an ordinary degree of 

 saltness. 



The temperature preferred by the Herring has been more carefully determined in Europe than 

 here. The observations of the Scotch and Dutch meteorological societies have demonstrated that 

 the temperature of the water most favoi able to the summer herring fisheries of their respective 

 countries is about 5o.4 F., though during the Scotch winter fisheries the temperature ranges 

 from 40.l F. to 41.9 F., and during the Norwegian spring herring fisheries it ranges from 37.4 

 F. to 39.2 F. Commenting upon these figures, Ljungman remarks: 



" There is good reason to suppose that the Herrings prefer a certain even temperature of the 

 water, and that they consequently avoid too warm or too cold water. This degree of temperature, 

 however, differs greatly according to the different locations, fisheries, and races of Herrings. The 

 fishing for spawning Herrings is, for example, on the east coast of Scotland, going on at a season of 



'Translation in United Stuten fish Commission Report, part vi, pp. 143-230. 

 Keport United States Kiijh Commismon, part vi, p. 177. 



