450 COMMON HERRING. Class IV. 



mention in comparison to the numbers that 

 return. - 



Herrings vary greatly in size. Mr. Trams 

 communicated to me the information of an ex- 

 perienced fisherman, who informed him that 

 there is sometimes taken near Yarmouth, a her- 

 ring distinguished by a black spot above the 

 nose; and that he once saw one that was 

 twenty-one inches and an half long. He in- 

 sisted that it was a different species, and varied 

 as much from the common herring as that does 

 from the pilchard. This we mention in order 

 to incite some curious person on that coast to a 

 farther enquiry. 

 Descrip- The eye is very large ; the edges of the up- 

 per jaw and the tongue very rough, but the 

 whole mouth is void of teeth ; the gill covers 

 are very loose, and open very wide, which 

 occasions the almost instant death of the her- 

 ring when taken out of the water; a fact well 

 known, even to a proverb. The dorsal fin con- 

 sists of about seventeen rays, and is placed be- 

 yond the centre of gravity, so that when the fish 

 is suspended by it, the head immediately dips 

 down ; the two ventral fins have nine rays ; the 

 pectoral seventeen ; the anal fourteen ; the tail 

 is much forked ; the lateral line is not apparent, 

 unless the scales are taken off ; the sides are 



TION. 



