THE SILLOCK-FISHEET. 209 



Gadidse. Very little is known of its natural history. It de- 

 posits its spawn in March, and the eggs are not long in hatch- 

 ing — about forty days, I think, varying, however, with the 

 temperature of the season. Before and after shedding its milt 

 or roe the whiting is out of condition, and should not be taken 

 for a couple of months. The whiting prefers a sandy bottom, 

 and is usually found a few miles from the shore, its food being 

 much the same as that of other fishes of the family to which it 

 belongs. It is a smallish fish, usually about twelve inches long, 

 and on the average two pounds in weight. 



I need scarcely refer to the other members of the Gadidse : 

 they are numerous and useful, but, generally speaking, their 

 characteristics are common and have been sufficiently detailed.* 

 I will now, therefore, say a few words about the Pleuronectidae. 

 There are upwards of a dozen kinds of flat fish that are popu- 

 lar for table purposes. One of these is a very large fish 

 known as the holibut {Sippoglopus vulgaris), which has been 



* A correspondent has favoured me ■with the following hrief aoconnt 

 of the Hlloch-fishing as earned on in Shetland : — " Sillocks are the yoimg 

 of the saith, and they make their appearance in the beginning of August 

 about the small isles, and are of the size of parrs in Tweed. They continue 

 ' about said isles for a few weeks, and in the months of September and 

 October, and sometimes longer, they hover about the small isles, when the 

 fishermen catch them for the sake of their liver, which contains oil. One 

 boat of twelve feet of keel will sometimes catch as many as thirty bushels 

 in a part of a day, and this year (1864), owing to the high price of oil, 

 each bushel was worth about Is. 6d. The fish itself is taken to the dung- 

 hill when the take is not great, but when there is a great take the liver is 

 taken out and the fish thrown into the sea. There are no Acts of Parlia- 

 ment against usi)}g the net ; but after some time the sillocks leave thS 

 isles and draw to the shore, where there are any edge-places^ It is allowed 

 that the island of Whalsey is about the best place in Shetland for the fish 

 to draw to, but whenever they come there, the proprieter, Mr. Bruce, will 

 not allow " pocking," as a wegk would finish them all ; but the people 

 must aU fish with the rod, so that each man niay get as many as keep him 

 a day or two. The " pocking " sets them all out, but the fish don't mind 

 the rod ; it is very picturesque to see perhaps fifty men sitting roimd the 

 basin with their rods, and the sillocks covering about a rood of the sea, 

 varying from three to six feet deep, and so close together that you would 

 think they could not get room to stir. They wUl continue plentiful tUl 

 the end of April, at which time they take to the deep sea ; and when they 

 make their appearance the following year they are about four times larger, 

 and are then called piltocks. But these are only taken by the rod. Mr. 

 Bnxce just says, If you pock, you cannot be my tenant ; so they must 

 either give up the one'or the other, and by that way of doing every house- 

 hold has as many of these small fish as they can maJse use of during the 

 winter." 



