THE WELFARE OF THE RACE 



203 



the young hatch they find themselves drifting into a 

 populous shore-water from which they may gather food 

 without stint ; and if on the journey haddock and 

 wolf-fish have fallen upon them, their vast array will 

 endure many such attacks without serious loss. These 

 losses are, indeed, foreseen. At the outset a single 



Fig. 37. — Eggs of the Herring fixed to seaweed. 

 [From a specimen in the Manchester Miiseiim.) 



family would number perhaps half a million, and if 

 all were to survive the sea would in a few years be a 

 quivering host of one prolific fish. But the chances of 

 the road remove battalions silently, and still leave 

 enough for there to be not only as good, but, fishing 

 apart, as 'many fish in the sea as ever our histories 



