4716 Fishes. 



been living on sand-eels ; another on what appeared to be small her- 

 rings; and in the stomach of the third were the shells of about 

 a dozen small Buccinums. These were the only specimens out of hun- 

 dreds in which the Entomostraca did not form the sole food. I leave 

 the negative and positive evidence to speak for themselves. The 

 positive evidence 1 at last obtained on this curious point would fill a 



volume. 



Throughout the inquiry, which was prolonged for several years, my 

 great object was to obtain the herring at as great a distance from the 

 shores as possible and in the best order. The British herring- 

 fisheries are in reality shore-fisheries, or nearly so, and the herrings 

 are most frequently taken on the spawning-ground, and in a con- 

 dition when the fish do not feed. Notwithstanding these innumer- 

 able difficulties, it seems to me that I have succeeded in deter- 

 mining, beyond all doubt, the food of the herring to consist of various 

 species of Entomostraca, with which it is known the seas and bays 



abound. 



When near the coast the herring is frequently not feeding. Thus, 

 in the Forth, in January and February, 1836, I examined the stomachs 

 and intestines of a very great number of fresh herrings, taken in the 

 Frith of Forth, and found them empty. The roes and milts were 

 large, but not remarkably so. On the other hand, after spawning, 

 and whilst close to the shores, they seem to take to other food, 

 as sand-eels and shrimps. I find in June, 1831, that herrings taken 

 off Dunbar were in this state ; the stomach and intestines loaded 

 with putrescence ; the fish worthless and insipid. My journals of ob- 

 servations, made by my brother and myself, at every season of the 

 year and on both coasts, are now before me : they confirm the facts, 

 already well-established by practical men, that shore-fisheries of fish 

 whose habitat is the deep sea seldom produce fish in their prime 

 condition. The deep sea cod and haddock, as compared with 

 the same fish caught high in estuaries, furnish a good example of this 

 truth ; the herring another. Thus, in the Frith of Forth fishings of the 

 20th of July, 1834, five male herrings, taken at random from a large 

 number, were found to have the milts small ; they had been feeding 

 on the Entomostraca alone : these herrings proved of good flavour 

 and were excellent to eat : thirty others of the same take were found 

 to be insipid and worthless. Of these some had been living on sand- 

 eels as well as Entomostraca; their stomachs and intestines were full 

 of putrescent remains. Thus food, as well as their approach to 



