320 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



of which were baited with limpets. Herrings feed on the 

 roe of their own species and of other fishes. I have often 

 found the young of the whitebait with small shrimps in 

 the stomach of herrings when they were not in roe ; but 

 when they are about to spawn, their stomachs (as is obser- 

 ved in most other fishes at that period) appear as if empty, 

 and destitute of any perceptible food. On the authority of 

 Dr Fleming, the fry have been caught with a trout-fly. Sir 

 William Jardine states, " that, on the coasts of the West 

 Highlands, herrings for many years past have been taken 

 with the rod, the hook dressed with a white feather (generally 

 from some of the gulls). Near Oban, and upon the shores 

 of Mull and Jura, twelve dozen are sometimes taken by a 

 single boat during the evening.'" 



Clupea pilchardus.* — The Pilchard. 



Specific Characters. — Dorsal fin exactly in the centre of gravity ; 

 ventrals under the dorsal. 



Description. — " From a specimen nine inches in length. Much 

 resembles the herring, but rather smaller and thicker ; length of the 

 head, to the whole length of the fish, as one to five ; depth of the 

 body equal to the length of the head ; transverse thickness of the 

 body equal to half its depth ; form of the head triangular, the upper 

 surface flat ; dorsal and abdominal lines slightly and equally convex ; 

 no perceptible lateral line ; body across the back obtusely rounded ; 

 line of the abdomen smooth ; the edges of the scales of the two sides 

 having a longitudinal groove from the branchiostegous rays to the 

 vent, along which groove extends a row of scales of a peculiar shape ; 

 the two long, narrow, lateral arms extending up each side under the 

 scales, the shortest projection pointing backwards ; the scales of the 

 body very large, deciduous, and ciliated at the free edge. The dis- 

 tance from the point of the nose to the base of the last ray of the dor- 

 sal fin, and from thence half-way along the caudal rays, nearly equal; 

 the commencement of the dorsal fin is therefore anterior to the mid- 

 dle of the fish by the whole length of the base of the fin ; the first 

 and second rays shorter than the third, which is equal to the length 



* Clupea pilchardus, Auctorum. Pilchard, Gipsy Herring. 



