FISHES. 599 
The Sprat (C. Sprattus) has been the subject of a great controversy ; 
one party contending that it is the young of the herring, another that 
it is a distinct species. Pennant, Yarrell, and many eminent natu- 
ralists adopt the first view ; yet its specific characters, according to 
Pennant, are “greater depth of body than the young herring; gill- 
covers not veined ; teeth of the lower jaw so small as to be scarcely 
sensible to the touch; the dorsal fin placed far back, and the sharp 
edge of the abdomen more acutely serrated than in the herring.” 
Like the herring, they inhabit the deep water during the summer, 
following the shoal to the sea-shore in autumn. The sprat fishing 
commences in November, and continues during the winter months, 
when they are caught in such numbers that in some localities they 
have beén used as manure. 
In support of the view that the sprat is a good species, the 
serrated belly and relative position of the fins are dwelt upon, 
together with the instance detailed by Mr. Mitchell, the Belgian 
consul at Leith, who exhibited a pair of sprats, having the roe and 
milt fully developed. 
On the other hand, the abundance of the sprat has been adduced 
as a reason for its being the young herring. In addition to this, 
anatomists declare their anatomy shows no difference but size. “ As. 
to the serrated belly,” says Bertram, ‘we may look on that as we do 
on the tuck in a child’s frock, namely, as a provision for growth.” 
If this is so, Dr. Bertram’s views supply material at once for thought 
and legislation. ‘‘ The slaughter of sprats,” he says, “is as decided a 
case of killing the goose with the golden eggs as the grilse slaughter 
carried on in our salmon rivers.” But Dr. Bertram here overlooks a 
fact of which any one may convince himself, namely, that the young 
herrings are caught without the serrated belly; nay, the curer’s 
purchase is regulated by the sprat’s rough and the herring’s smooth 
belly. 
The Pilchard, Clupea pilchardus (Fig. 384), sometimes called the 
Gipsy Herring, visits our coasts allthe year round. It was at one time 
thought, as the herring was, to be migratory, but, like that fish, it is 
now found to be a native of our own seas, and a constant inhabitant 
of our shores. It has been known to spawn in May, but the usual 
time is October; and authorities like Mr. Couch think it breeds only 
once a year. Its visit to shallow water causes immense excitement ; 
persons watch night and day from the lofty cliffs along the Cornish 
coast, and the watehers (locally called “‘huers”) signal the boats at 
-sea beneath them the moment they see indications of the approach of 
_a shoal. Mr. Wilkie Collins gives an animated picture of the “huer :” 
