Fishes. 4719 



studies. Their family resided at Anstruther, a great fishing station on 

 the Frith of Forth, and I wrote to Mr. Henry D. Goodsir to push the 

 inquiry for me to the utmost: this he did by embarking in the fishing- 

 boats himself on the stormy frith, and proceeding with the fishermen 

 to the fishing-ground, not far from the Isle of May, and in the open 

 sea. He wrote me two letters in answer to my inquiries, one of which, 

 I fear, has been lost ; I transcribe a copy of the second ; of its value 

 I need say nothing : — 



Copy of Mr. Goodsir 's Letter respecting the Food of the Herring. 



" Anstruther, June 15, 1843. 



"My dear Sir, — I have put off thus long in answering your letter of 

 the 29th ult. for the purpose of making further observations on the 

 herring and its food, and find that my previous observations are quite 

 correct in regard to the matter. I will now, then, answer your queries 

 separately. 



" 1st. The Entomostraca are at certain seasons the almost exclu- 

 sive food of the herring : there can be no doubt, either, that they follow 

 shoals of these Crustacea to prey upon ihem, for it is only when the 

 latter make their appearance on this coast that the former are seen ; 

 and when their food is most plentiful the herring are in best condition. 

 It is during the summer months also that we find the larvae of the more 

 common species of Decapoda, along with those of Balani, and occa- 

 sionally a minute shell-fish, amongst the contents of the stomach. 



" 2nd. It appears to be chiefly during the winter and spring months 

 that the herring take other kinds of food than the Entomostraca ; during 

 these months, however, we find the stomach oftener empty, and only 

 occasionally filled with the larger Crustacea, such as the shrimps, &c. ; 

 in other cases with Entomostraca. 



" 3rd. As to Entomostraca being the partial or exclusive food of other 

 fish besides the herring, there can be no doubt that during the summer 

 months, when the shoals of Entomostraca, or what our fishermen 

 term maidre, are in great abundance, they form the food of a great 

 number of other animals besides the herring. The common coal fish 

 is perhaps the species which, next to the herring, preys on the maidre 

 in greatest number, and is consequently often caught in large quantities 

 in the nets during the early part of the season. 



"It appears to me also that the shoals of Cetacea which make their 

 appearance in the frith during the herring season are in pursuit of the 

 maidre, and not of the herring, as is most generally thought to be the 

 case. 



