XVIII.-SPECIAL RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATIONS RELATING 

 TO THE HERRING AND HERRING FISHERIES ON THE WEST 

 COAST OF SWEDEN MADE DURING THE YEARS 1873-1883.* 



By A. V. Ljungmax. 



1. l^ATUEAL HISTORY OF THE HEERING. 



As regards the preparation of a natural history of the herring, I have 

 found it necessary, in view of the principal aim of my investigations, 

 and my limited time and means, to confine my work to the preparation 

 of what was of special importance for this aim, and what could be ob- 

 tained in the unfavorable circumstances under which I had to work. 

 Here, as the Eoyal Academy of Sciences stated in its memorial of March 

 12, 1873, a larger force of men and an amjile supiDly of apparatus was 

 needed ; and as this requirement was not met, I felt compelled to aban- 

 don the special investigations of such matters as formed the subjects 

 of exclusive observations by other naturalists, and to concentrate my 

 activity upon those subjects which were essential towards answering 

 the questions in law and general administration, which I had met with ; 

 such as, the "spawning of the different races of herring;" the cause of 

 the periodicity of the Bohuslan herring fisheries; and the gathering of 

 general data relative to the races of the herring and the sprat, their pro- 

 pagation, growth, mode of life, their migrations, and their physical and 

 biological causes. 



As regards the different races of herring and their spawning, the in- 

 vestigations have shown that the herring which forms the object of the 

 famous Bohuslan herring fisheries is a sea herriug, belonging to the 

 North Sea, which spawns partly during the first part of autumn and 

 partly towards the end of winter or in the beginning of spring, and which 

 only at secular periods visits the eastern part of the Skagerack; whilst 

 the herring which permanently lives in these waters is a coast herring 

 and spawns in spring. The younger among these coast herring seem 

 to spawn later in spring than the older ones; according to G. Winther's 

 observations this is also the case with the herring in the sound, which 

 spawn in autumn. Professor Nilsson, however, supposes that the very 

 reverse is the case with the herring in the Kattegat, which spawn in 



•From "Kortfattad berattelse ofver de under drtiondes 1873-168Z ut/orda vetenslcapliga 

 undersdkningarna." Translated from the Swedish, by Herman Jacobsox. 



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