WHITEBAIT. 15 



In fact we have no precise information ■whatever as to power 

 of growth. We have at best only a few guesses and general 

 deductions, and we would like to know as regards all fish 

 — 1st, When they spawn ; 2d, How long it is ere the spawn 

 quickens into life ; and 3d, At what period fish are able to 

 repeat the story of their birth. These points once known — and 

 they are most essential to the proper understanding of the 

 economy of our fisheries — the chief remaining - questions con- 

 nected with fishing industry would be of comparatively easy 

 solution, and admit of our regulating the power of capture to 

 the natural conditions of supply. 



As another example of long continued ignorance of fish life, 

 I may instance that diminutive member of the herring family — 

 the whitebait. This fish, which is so much better known gastro- 

 nomicaUy than it is scientifically, was thought at one time to be 

 found only in the Thames, but it is much more generally 

 diffused than is supposed. It is found for certain, and in great 

 plenty, in three rivers — viz. the Thames, the Forth, and the 

 Hamble. I have also seen it taken out of the Humber, not far 

 from Hull, and have heard of its being caught near the mouth 

 of the Deveron, on the Moray Firth ; and likewise of its being 

 found in plentiful quantities off the Isle of Wight. Mr. Stewart, 

 the natural history draughtsman, tells me also that he has seen 

 it taken in bushels on many parts of the Clyde, and that at 

 certain seasons, while engaged in taking coal-fish, he has found 

 them so stuffed with whitebait that by holding the large fish 

 by the tail the little silvery whitebait have fallen out in hand- 

 fuls. The whitebait has become celebrated from the mode in 

 which it is cooked, and the excuse it affords to Londoners for 

 an afternoon's excursion, as also from its forming a famous dish 

 at the annual fish-dinner of her Majesty's ministers ; but truth 

 compels me to state that there is nothing in whitebait beyond 

 its susceptibility of taking on flavour from the skilled cook. 



The whitebait, however, if I cannot honestly praise it as a 

 table fish, is particularly interesting as an sobject of natural 

 history, there having been from time to time, as in the case of 

 most other fish, some very learned disputes as to where it comes 

 from, how it grows, and whether oj not it be a distinct member 

 of the herring family or the young of some other fish. The 

 whitebait — which, although found in rivers, is strictly speaking 

 a sea fish — is a tiny animal, varying in length, when taken for 

 cooking purposes, from two to four inches, and has never been 



