WHITEBAIT. 17 



greatly so in taste, from those obtained in the Thames ; in fact, 

 all kinds of fish, .including salmon, live and thrive in the Firth 

 of Forth. It is long since the refined salmon forsook the 

 Thames, but then salmon are very delicate in their eating, and 

 at once take on the surrounding flavour, whatever that may be. 

 Keturning, however, to our whitebait, we have over and 

 over again been assured by various authorities that that fish is 

 the young of the shad ; and a whole regiment of the young fish 

 was shown by Mr. Larkin, a Cheapside fishmonger, in order to 

 prove the case. All sizes were marshalled in order, from the 

 tiniest specimen to the comparatively monster parent of the 

 progeny — the great shad itself The verdict must, however, 

 in the meantime be the Scotch one of " not proven." It is not 

 very well known who first promulgated the theory of whitebait 

 being the young of the shad; but Donovan, the author of a 

 History of British Fishes, is at least responsible for spreading the 

 error. What must, however, surprise aU who take the trouble 

 to study the controversy is this fact, that if whitebait be young 

 shad, their parents are very seldom seen. There is no shad- 

 fishery in the Thames, or near the Thames, at present; yet 

 millions of these so-called young shad are annually devoured by 

 visitors to Greenwich, Blackwall, and Eichm'ond, not to speak 

 of the number eaten in the great metropolis. If the progeny, 

 then, are plentiful, how come the parents to be scarce ? is 

 the idea immediately presenting itself to the mind when re- 

 quested to believe whitebait to be young shad. Fishes of all 

 kinds, and especially the herring kind, are very prolific ; but 

 even if the female shad yields its ova in thousands, the dangers 

 the young ones encounter considerably diminish the number 

 that come to life. Thousands of pairs of shads would therefore 

 be required to produce the quantities of so-called whitebait 

 (rhich are annually brought to table during the summer season. 

 Shad were at one time very abundant in the Thames; and 

 this fact would no doubt be a good argument in the mouths 

 jf those who were of opinion that whitebait grew in time into, 

 ihat fish. If, however, we reject the shad as the parent of 

 ihe whitebait, and conclude that fish to be a distinct species, 

 ive shall undoubtedly want to know a great deal more about 

 t than that bare fact. First of aU, we must know where the 

 parent iish can be found ; secondly, if they be good for food ; 

 md thirdly, at what season and in what markets they are sold : 

 .t seems so strange that we should be addicted to eating the 







