THE HERRING FAMILY 1 69 



and beneath the eye. Upper jaw reaching back to the front 

 third of the eye. Scales larger than in any other British species 

 of the family, only thirty in the whole length of the body, easily 

 detached. Spines on the edge of the belly weak, and the edge 

 itself rounded ; the whole form of the body is rounder than 

 in herring or sprat, and not so deep. Colour on the back olive 

 green, rather deep, sides silvery. Does not often exceed 1 1 

 inches in length, and 8 or 9 inches is the usual size. Mr. Dunn 

 has seen a specimen 14 inches long, but this a rarity. 



There is no difficult}' in distinguishing the fully-developed 

 pilchard at any size ; it more resembles the shads than the sprat 

 or herring, but is easily distinguished from the former by the 

 more slender body, larger scales, and weaker ventral spines. 

 The question whether pilchards and sardines are the same 

 or not is frequently raised, and the correct reply to it is the 

 following. The sardine of commerce is prepared on the west 

 coast of France from Brest southward to La Rochelle, and there- 

 fore the fish is taken in a part of the sea which is near to, and 

 not separated from, that where the Cornish pilchard fishery is 

 carried on. The pilchard extends throughout both these parts 

 of the sea, and the sardine is not a different fish. Pilchard is the 

 Cornish name for it, sardine the French. But the fish which 

 are preserved in oil and tinned are small, }'oung fish, from about 

 5 inches to 6^ or 7 inches in length, and these are not regularly 

 caught by the Cornishmen. The difference in the product is due 

 to the difference in the mesh of the nets used. On the other hand 

 full-grown pilchards 8 to 10 or 1 1 inches long occur on the French 

 grounds, and are fished there in winter ; they are distinguished 

 as sardines de derive which means drift sardines, sardines caught 

 by drifting with the nets without bait, while the small fish of the 

 summer fishery are called sardijies de rogue, because salted cod's 

 roe, called rogue, is scattered in the water as a bait to attract the 

 fish before the nets are shot. Nets of various meshes are used 

 in this fishery, and the fishermen use the mesh which is the right 

 size for the fish present at the time. Seines however have come 

 into use in the summer fisher}^ in recent years. There is no 

 reason to doubt that the small sardines could be caught in 

 Cornish waters : in fact they have frequent!}- been taken in the 

 seines there, but were not wanted because not suited to the 

 Cornish trade. 



