OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 93 



{Clupea harengus), No. 176, apart from the prominent 

 position it occupies among our British fisheries in its adult 

 state, provides for the tables of the wealthy in the days of its 

 youth that very highly esteemed delicacy known as " White- 

 bait." Originally the Whitebait was supposed to represent 

 a distinct species of British fish, and was so described by 

 Yarrel under the title of Clupea alba. Yarrel's types, how- 

 ever, deposited in the British Museum, were shown by Dr. 

 Gunther to be the young only of the Herring, every phase 

 of growth from the Whitebait to the adult state having been 

 produced. Proof of a more substantial nature in the same 

 direction was adduced by the writer in the years 1874 and 

 75, through the successful cultivation of Whitebait in the 

 Manchester Aquarium. These fish, which when first im- 

 ported from Mr. Parry Evans' famous Salmon Weir at 

 Colwyn Bay, North Wales, measured but from one to two 

 inches in length, had grown within the course of a year to 

 small, though fair-sized Herrings. The feat of artificially 

 cultivating Whitebait, though not previously achieved at any 

 other aquarium, and more especially an inland one, was 

 subsequently carried through with success at the Brighton 

 and Southport institutions, and likewise for the second 

 time by the writer at the Westminster Aquarium in the 

 year 1876. The great difficulty attending the rearing of 

 these interesting little fish was connected with the food 

 question. The natural diet of the Herring in its young and 

 adult states, consists essentially of living prey, including 

 chiefly Entomostraca and the larval phases of higher Crus- 

 tacea. Such pabulum being difficult to obtain so far inland as 

 Manchester, a variety of substitutes were offered them by 

 way of experiment, but for a long time without success. 

 Ultimately an irresistible bonne-bouche was provided in the 

 shape of the hard adductor muscle of the common Mussel 



