THE HERRING FAMILY 151 



is not individually a fish of very great fecundity. In sixteen 

 specimens, gh to 12^ inches long, the total number of eggs 

 varied from 21,000 to 47,000, the average being 31,000. All 

 these specimens however were winter herring — herring that were 

 ripe between January and March on the east of Scotland ; most 

 of them from the entrance of the Firth of Forth, a few from 

 Wick. 



The questions connected with the spawning periods and 

 spawning places of herrings form a subject of which the investi- 

 gation in this country is by no means exhausted. It is certain 

 that herrings are found spawning in winter, and also in summer 

 or autumn, and that the spawning periods differ considerably in 

 different localities. It is not merely that in one neighbourhood 

 the fish spawn in the beginning of the year, and in another at 

 the end of summer, but that two spawnings have been definitely 

 observed in the same neighbourhood. Considerable evidence 

 has been obtained upon this complicated subject, and the 

 conclusion to be drawn from this evidence is that the same 

 herrings do not spawn twice a year, but that, on the contrary, 

 the fish which spawn in winter are a different race from those 

 which spawn in summer. These races differ in their habits and 

 spawn in localities of different character. Winter-spawning 

 herrings frequent brackish waters, and do not spawn far from 

 the coast or the openings of rivers, while the summer spawners 

 are herrings of the more open sea which, although they approach 

 the coast in the spawning season, do not seem to enter estuaries, 

 and whose spawning grounds extend to a considerable distance 

 from the coast. 



The herrings of the Firth of Forth are winter herrings. 

 Their movements and spawning are regularly repeated every 

 year both as to time and place. The spawn of herrings was 

 first obtained from the natural beds and examined in the case 

 of these herrings, in Professor Allman's investigation already 

 mentioned in a previous part of this book. The fish first 

 appeared, and the fishing in the upper parts of the Firth, below 

 Queensferry, commenced about the last week of October, 1861. 

 The herring were fished in the lower parts in January, 1862, 

 and up to the end of January the fish taken were full. Spent 

 herrings were taken on February ist. After fruitlesss search in 

 other parts of the Firth spawn was first obtained on March ist 



