On the Herring. 369 



jointed rays, and are possessed of comb-like gills, with very- 

 large gill orifices. The most important family in this order is 

 the Clupeoid, embracing the herring, sprat, whitebait, pilchard, 

 and anchovy, with many more fishes, largely made use of for 

 food. 



The herring is exclusively an old-world fish, being confined 

 to the coasts of Britain and Europe, but never found on those 

 of America. It congregates in large shoals, swimming near 

 the surface of the water, and, because of its numbers, has re- 

 ceived the specific name of harengus, which, according to Artidi, 

 is the latinized form of the German word "haring" — a host. 

 From observations made on its growth, we are disposed to 

 believe that it is found in four conditions ; or, in other words, 

 it has four names for its various stages of growth. The fry, 

 which are small, minute fish newly escaped from the egg, retain 

 this name till they reach the second stage, when they measure 

 from five to six inches in length, and are then called maties. 

 While maties, there is a large deposition of fat surrounding the 

 alimentary canal, which is stored up for the use of the individual 

 during the breeding season. While in the matie form, the repro- 

 ductive organs are but slightly developed, but as they become 

 full herrings, which is the name for the third change, the stored 

 fat becomes absorbed, and by some is thought to assist in the 

 development of the ova, which, in the full herring, attains its 

 fullest growth, and is then shed or deposited. 



After the performance of this function, the fish is sickly 

 and weak, and is then called a shotten or spent fish. These 

 four, the fry, matie, full, and spent, comprise the changes which 

 the herring undergoes from its escape from the egg till its per- 

 formance of the reproductive function. While passing through 

 these changes, it moves from deep to shallow water, according 

 to the season of the year and the requirements of nature. The 

 older writers believed that the herring was only a visitant to 

 our shores, coming in great " sculls/'' or shoals, from the Arctic 

 seas to spawn upon our shallows, and after circumnavigating 

 our islands, journeying back to their icy houses in the northern 

 ocean. Pennant, unable to account for them after they left the 

 spawniug-beds, considered they must have returned to the 

 Arctic seas, " in order to recruit themselves after the fatigue of 

 spawning." He never took into account the exertion and 

 labour of a journey due north, nor the difficulty of gctl rag suffi- 

 cient food in the ice-bound seas around Spitzbergcn. W e havo 

 the testimony of Arctic explorers that the herring is compara- 

 tively rare in the north ; and, above all, we know that they 

 never leave our seas, but remain in deep water not far from the 

 spawning-beds. 



The fry, after leaving the egg, move about on the shallow 



