FOOD OF THE HEERmO. 563 



Passamaquoddy Bay. One principal spawning ground of the Herring in the Bay of Pundy, is 

 near the southern head of Grand Menan; and by a very wise provision of the E'ew Brunswick 

 Government, a close time was many years ago enacted, extending from the 15th of June to the 15th 

 of September, during which the capture of these fish was forbidden. They now resort to that 

 portion of the coast in considerable numbers, and the quantity of eggs deposited is said to be 

 something almost inconceivable. 



"The spawning season, too, appears to be later and later as we proceed westward from Maine. 

 Thus, allpwing it to be at its height there in the beginning of August,' it occurs in September off 

 the coast of Maine, and in October off Eastern Massachusetts; in November at Cape Cod, and in 

 December at Noman's Land and Block Island; possibly still later farther south. 



"The eggs are minute, less in size than those of the shad, and adhere when discharged to 

 rocks, seaweed, etc., J)eing scattered singly or in bunches over a vast extent of sea bottom. I 

 have frequently brought them up at various depths and at a considerable distance from the shore, 

 off Grand Menan.'" 



Aetificial propagation of the Heering. — In the spring of 1878 the first successful 

 experiments in the artificial propagation of Herring were carried on in Germanj'' by Dr. H. 

 A. Meyer, of the Commission for Scientific Investigation of the German Seas at Kiel, and in 

 the fall of the same year by Mr. E. E. Earll, of the United States Fish Commission, at Glouces- 

 ter. ' A translation of Dr. Meyer's paper may be found in part vi, United States Fish Com- 

 mission Eeport, pp. (529-638, and a brief summation of Mr. Earll's experiments in the same 

 volume, pp. 727-729. 



Pood. — Much has been written upon the food of the Herring, but the following translation 

 from an article in "Die I'J'atur," Ko. 47, 1869, gives in a very satisfactory manner recent views 

 of European authorities upon the subject: 



"Of the various fishes that inhabit the waters^ few have, perhaps, more direct bearing 

 upon the prosperity of the maritime people of the north than the sea Herring; the shores of 

 both hemispheres being visited regularly by countless myriads that furnish an inexhaustible 

 source of food. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the attention of fishermen, as 

 well as statesmen and political economists, has been directed to the different questions con- 

 nected with the migrations and preservation of these fish, and that much research should have 

 been expended in determining various points connected with their history. Until quite 



1 A large scliool of Herrings appears annually in the vicinity of Boisbobert Island, in Eastern Maine, off Millbridge, 

 where they spawn on the rooky bottom.— R. E. Earll, 



^A visit in 1872 to the Southern Head of Grand Menan, during the spawning season of the Herriug, enabled 

 my assistant, Dr. Palmer, to obtain a very interesting series of eggs and young by using the dredge, the eggs being 

 found at low water, from near the shore, out to a distance of several miles. 



Over au extended area, whenever any gravel, stones, or sea-weed were brought up with the dredge they were 

 found to be thickly dottpd over with these eggs, sometimes single, at others in clusters. 



It would appear that in the operation of exclusion, the eggs fall away into the water in masses varying in 

 size, although in no instance Was the entire spawning of any one fish observed in a single mass. The largest aggre- 

 gationg consisted of masses of the size of a hazel-nut. Sometimes these heat up and separate entirely. The eggs 

 were very minute, not larger than No. 7 shot, and when taken up nearly all the eggs contained embryos, of which the 

 eyes were very large and distinct. The eggs appear to sink to the Bottom if not. laid there originaAy, and to adhere 

 at once to adjacent objects. A careful straining of the surface-water and down to a considerable depth with the 

 towing-net, or hand gauge-net, brought up no floating eggs. 



A large number of eggs were brought over to Eastport in salt water and a considerable number of these hatched 

 out on the way, during an interval of a few hours, and many others became developed soon after they were brought 

 ashore. All the embryos had left their envelopes by the next morning. The young could be distinctly seen inside of 

 the egg, and when this was ruptured they were extremely active in their movements through the water, springing 

 up and down and crosswise, wriggling precisely like the larvse of a dipterous insect. Their length at this time was. 

 about thirty one-hnndredths of an inch, some few being larger and oihers rather smaller. 



