52 FOOD OF THE HERKING. 



siderable number, I found more or less distinct remains 

 of entomostraca and other Crustacea. Sometimes the 

 stomach was found completely filled with them, and some- 

 times I found along with these the remains of young fishes. 

 I must also observe that I generally found the greatest 

 quantity of food in the young herrings ; and the least in 

 those having large milts and roes. From this circum- 

 stance, along with the fact that the herring is very lean 

 after spawning, I have concluded that the full herrings 

 do not come to the coasts on our shores for the purpose 

 of seeking food, but for the purpose of spawning. {Hand- 

 linger rorande SiUJiskef, p. 132.) 



Professor Valenciennes, in his edition of Cuvier's " Na- 

 tural History of Fishes,'' states, that he has found in the 

 stomach of the herring the fry or young of fishes of the 

 size of a pin, and considered that some of them were the 

 young of its own species ; and from his own experience, 

 and the information he has obtained, he is satisfied that, 

 like other similar fishes, it eats the various animals of a 

 suitable description that come in its way (a sajoortee). 

 (Vol. XX. p. 70.) 



Cloquet, in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles," 

 says of the herring, "II se nourrit des oeufs de poissons, 

 de petits crabes et des vers ;" namely, they live on the eggs 

 of fishes, small crabs, and worms (vol. i. p. 428). 



Bosc, in tlie Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, 

 says of herrings : " lis vivent de petits poissons, de petits 

 crustaces, de vers marines, et de moUusques," — they live 

 on small fish, small Crustacea, sea- worms, and testacea. 



Dr Neill, in his " List of Fishes," published in the 

 " Wernerian Transactions" in 1811, says, that he found 

 " in the stomach and oesophagus of a large female her- 

 ring no fewer than five young herrings — not sprats." 



