CLUPEID^E. 219 



than their smaller relatives, the sprats. In October, out of forty-one examples 

 from 2^ to 3£ inches in length, all were herrings. It appears that both sprats 

 and young hei-rings find their way into the London market as whitebait. Some 

 inquirers may obtain one species, some the other, while a third may receive 

 both forms, in accordance with the locality the fishermen were working their 

 nets and whether schools of one or both were present at the time. 



Of the thirty-one examples of "winter whitebait" received from the Medway, 

 twenty-six varied from 2 to 4£ inches in length, the larger ones possessing well- 

 developed roe ; all these were sprats : the remaining five were young herrings 

 from 5 to 1\ inches long, the largest having slightly developed roe.* 



How are these young fish to be distinguished ? may be asked, and to this 

 question a very simple reply will suffice. The sprats have sixteen to eighteen rays 

 in the fin of the back, and seventeen to eighteen in that behind the vent. The 

 ventral fins are situated beneath the first rays of the back fin. They have forty- 

 seven or forty-eight vertebrae, no teeth in the front part of the palate (the vomer), 

 and in a single or double row along the tongue, while internally they only possess 

 seven or eight caecal appendages at the pyloric end of the stomach, while the edge 

 of the abdomen has very sharp points, entirely dissimilar in the two forms as I 

 have pointed out (page 209). The young herrings have seventeen to twenty rays 

 in the fin of the back, and sixteen to eighteen in that behind the vent. The 

 ventral fins are situated beneath the middle rays of the back fin. They have fifty- 

 six vertebrae, teeth in the front part of the palate (the vomer) and in a long oval 

 patch along the tongue, while internally they possess seventeen to twenty or more 

 caecal appendages at the pyloric end of the stomach. The keeled abdominal edge 

 is not nearly so sharp as in the sprats, while the scales do not fall off the body 

 quite so readily as in the latter species, in which but few are seen on the sides in 

 captured examples. Due to the position of the back fin fishermen can recognize 

 these two forms by holding them up by the dorsal fin, when the sprat trims by the 

 head, but the herring by the tail. 



That Pennant's was the whitebait of the present time there can be but little 

 doubt, and likewise that it was the young herring. It is also certain that 

 Donovan's figure is that of a young shad, the immature of which, if in sufficient 

 numbers, would do as well as those of the herring or sprat served up as whitebait, 

 while I certainly possess the young of these last two forms which I have received 

 as this fish. 



During the summer and autumn of 1874 several hundred small whitebait 

 were imported to Manchester from Colwyn Bay, North Wales. During the first 

 eighteen months of their captivity they grew to at least half the size of a full- 

 grown herring, with which species there was no gainsaying their identity (Zool. 

 1876, p. 4855). Meyer states his grew only to 1^ inches in length in five months. 

 Mr. Sim, of Aberdeen, observes that he found herring fry in the rock pools in 

 great numbers in the months of June and July, all from 1^ to 2^ inches long, and 

 which he concluded were from the March spawning, or four to five months old. 



As these fish arrive at maturity, very conflicting evidence has been adduced 

 respecting the time at which they first breed. Some (as De Caux) have believed 

 this to be well within twelve months, a supposition somewhat confirmed by my 

 examination of whitebait and detecting ova (see above) : eighteen months has 

 likewise been suggested (Mitchell) ; also that they are approaching the expiry of 

 their second year before they shed their first ova (Sim). While some observers 

 believe they spawn twice a year, others as positively affirm the contrary. 



Hermaphrodites. — Yarrell refers to one (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p, 91), as does 

 also Malm, who describes and figures it (CEfv. Ak. Forh. 1876, pi. v) : likewise 

 J. A. Smith (Journ. Anat. and Phys. iv, 1870, p. 258). 



Herring fisheries. — It would appear from the Commissioners' report that young 

 herrings along the east coast of Scotland were first permitted to be captured in 

 small meshed, sprat, or garvie nets in 1868 : the true garvie being the sprat, 

 Clupea sprattus. Some of the witnesses averred that when garvies are scarce 



* Yarrell remarked that if whitebait die in fresh water the air-bladder collapses (P. Z. S., 

 1830, p. 73). 



