CLUPEID^. 233 



it is not common to find them in this condition. Neither Pennant, Turton, Jenyns, 

 or White, advert to the breeding of these fish, but Yarrell states he caught some 

 off the Dorsetshire coast in June which were then in roe, also young sprats oS 

 Ramsgate, Hastings, and Weymouth, in the months of August and September. 

 Lowe (Fauna of Norfolk, 1873, p. 29) remarks, " Mr. Dowell says, that though 

 he has seen vast quantities of this fish caught, he never yet saw one with roe." 

 Couch observes that in May, 1860, he obtained one 6 inches long and 

 heavy in roe taken 30 miles off shore. Parnell remarked that in the Firth 

 of Forth the sprats spawned early in the month of March. In October, 1879, I 

 examined a number from St. Ives; a few males had some milt, but the ovisacs of 

 the females were empty and red as if spawning were over. 



Diseases. — Mr. Warren (in Thompson's Ireland) observes that "about Christmas, 

 1846, vast numbers of sprats died in Cork Harbour, and were carried off in 

 bucketsful dying and dead. The people ate them, and considered them very- 

 good : it was the year of the famine. They had mostly a ' pearl ' or white 

 appearance in the eye while living : some had both eyes, and others only one of 

 them, diseased." 



One form of parasitic Entomostraca, Lerneonema monilaris or sprat Lemea, is 

 often found attached to the eye of this fish. The whole head of this parasite is 

 inserted into the tissues of its host, and retained there by the barbs or horny 

 prolongations with which it is furnished. This Lernea is luminous at night-time, 

 and fishermen assert that shoals of sprats are often preceded by several of these 

 fishes infested by parasites and which have occasioned their being termed 

 " lanthorn sprats." 



The britt in Devonshire and Cornwall have been considered by some to be 

 the young of the " herring," but those which I received from Plymouth were 

 sprats. The Town Council of Exeter annually make an official whitebait 

 repast upon " britt," respecting which discussions have arisen as to whether they 

 are or are not similar to the genuine Thames and Medway species. It appears 

 that in the Exe they ascend with the tide so far as the entrance of the Exeter 

 canal, where they ai'e found from May until September. Mr. Ross (Misc.) recorded 

 in 1838 that he took some of these fish to London to Mr. Yarrell, who decided 

 they were the fry of the shad. Mr. Couch subsequently considered them 

 to be whitebait, but not the young of the herring. Mr. D'Urban, the curator 

 of the Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter, transmitted specimens to me, which 

 were the young of the herring. 



Continuing my investigations into the britt along the S.W. coast, I arrived on 

 August 23, 1881, at Dawlish. At the beach I was in time to see the seine net 

 hauled on shore, and as the bagged portion came to the surface innumerable little 

 silvery fishes seemed to shoot through the meshes into the sea, but hundreds 

 were landed with the refuse, some of which I secured. This gave me another 

 opportunity of examining the August britt. The fishermen considered they were 

 all young sprats, and such I found them to be, while their size varied from three- 

 quarters of an inch to 2| inches in length. Again in August and September, 

 1883, at Teignmouth, the britt up to If inches in length were all sprats. 



It may be that the britt present at the mouth of the Exe from May until 

 September vary with the season, for when investigating the whitebait question 

 in 1878, among examples from the Thames and Medway, 1 found the proportions 

 of herrings to sprats to be about as follows : — May and June, ten to one ; August, 

 sprats rather more than half ; October, all herrings ; while of the winter white- 

 bait given me by Mr. Charles from the Medway, all were sprats. On August 13, 

 1881, at St. Ives, innumerable young sprats were being taken as bait for gurnards, 

 although they appeared to be entirely absent from Penzance, which was locally 

 attributed to the bay being too sandy ; and I saw a solitary example at Mevagissey, 

 captured among pilchards. 



As food. — These fish are very deservedly esteemed, especially when not too 

 large. As they are nutritious and cheap, they are a boon to the poorer classes. 

 They are sold by measure. They come into the market just after the herring 

 season is over. 



