12 FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
the Whitebait. Richard Parnell, in his “ Fishes of the Firth of 
Forth,” thus describes the appearance of Whitebait: ‘Color of 
the upper part of back, from the nape to the tail, of a pale 
greenish ash; sides, gill covers, pectoral, ventral, and annul 
fins, of a beautiful pure white; dorsal and caudal fins, straw 
color; scales thin, very deciduous; under jaw longest. In their 
habits they appear to be similar to the young of the herring, 
always keeping in shoals and swimming occasionally near the 
surface.” Gunther, in his “Catalogue of /zshes in the British 
Museum,” states: “As regards the Whitebait, this is a purely 
nominal species, introduced into science by Yarrell and Valen- 
ciennes in deference to the opinion of fisherman and gour- 
mands.” All the examples of Whitebait he examined were 
young herrings, from one and a half to three inches in length. 
At the present time it is accepted asa well settled fact by all 
English ichthyologists and naturalists that the Whitebait is 
neither more or less than the young fry of the herring family, 
which is fully assured from recent experiments at the aquarium 
in Brighton, England, where some live Whitebait, about one and 
a half inches long, were placed in one of the tanks, and in a few 
months developed into herring of about nine inches in length. 
Much of the discussion in England over this fish arose from in- 
vestigators having confounded different species of the genus 
Clupea. Keeping the results of the investigations of our Eng- 
lish cousins in mind, let us now take up the history of White- 
bait in American waters. In the early part of the year 1876, 
Mr. Charles Waite, one of the proprietors of the Windsor Hotel, 
in this city, suggested to me that I get some of our fishermen to 
bring in some very small fish, about one inch long, as they would 
be a great delicacy for the table, and, in his opinion, would equal 
the famed Whitebait of England. This led me to make inquiry 
in various quarters as to the character, appearance, and habits 
of this fish, and in April, 1876, I received from Liverpool, 
through the kindness and courtesy of Professor T. J. Moore, of 
the Derby Museum, some specimens of English Whitebait. Af- 
ter examining these, | was convinced that the same fish could be 
found in our waters.- Shortly after, I met Mr. J. Carson Bre- 
voort, and knowing that he had fished the waters of New York 
