A rrr-HT 4, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



11 



A Labor Aouothdaok Tkout.— Mr. Edward Everett 

 Barnes, of thR firm of fcl R, OlfiOin & Co., caught in Lake 

 Meachem, in the Adiroudaeks, on June 26, a trout weighing 

 two ami one-half pounds, and safely landed him. His guide 

 Wa&&\. Burr, This is the largest trout caught there thin 

 season.— Ac. 



'I'Konj' Kimii iiy a Croon Burst —On July 24 a cloud 

 burst in the Ireafi of Mill Creek Canon, San Bernardino 



Out] f, GflL If love trees up by the roots and moved huso 

 boulders from (heir beds, sending them crashing down the 

 canon. An innumerable quantity of trout was killed.— (-'»- 

 ffinm City RnUrpriic. 



THE HERRING. 



Bv PKOFBSSOR T. H. HlIiLEt. 



I -Abridged from " Nature. 11 ] 



LIKE most fishes, the herring is propelled mainly by the 

 souULng action of the tail-tin, Ihe rest serving chiefly to 

 preserve the balance of the body, and to keep it from turn- 

 ing over, OB it would do if left to itself, the back being the 

 heaviest part of the fish. 



The mouth of the Uerring is not very large, the gape ex- 

 tending back only to beneath the middle of the eye, and the 

 teeth on the upper and lower jaws are so small as to be hardly 

 visible. Moreover, when a live herring opens its mouth, 

 or when the lower jaw of a dead herring is depressed artifi- 

 cially, the upper jaw, instead 'if r ruaining fixed and station- 

 ary, travels downward and forwrd in such a manner as to 

 guard the sides of the gape. This movement is the result of 

 a curiou» .mechanical arrangement by which the lower jaw 

 pulls upon the upper, and I suspect that it is useful in guard- 

 ing tlie sides of the gape when the fish gulps the small liv- 

 ing prey upon wbicli it feeds. 



The only conspicuous teeth, and they are very small, are 

 disposed in an elongated patch upon the tongue, and in an- 

 other such patch, opposite to these, on the forepart of the 

 roof of the mouth. But, if the mouth of a herring is opened 

 ■widely, there will be seen, on each side, a great, number of 

 fine, long, bristle-] ike processes, the pointed ends of which 

 project iorward. These arc what are termed the gill-rakers, 

 inasmuch as they ate fixed, like the teeth of a rake, to the 

 inner sides of those arches of bone on the outer sides of 

 » hiclt i tic gills are fixed. The sides of the throat of a her- 

 ring, in fact, are, as it were, cut by four deep and wide clefts, 

 which are separated by these gill arches, and the waterwhich 

 the fish constantly gulps in by the mouth flows through these 

 clefts, over the gills and out beneath the gill-covers, aerating 

 the blood, and thus effecting respiration, as it goes. But, 

 since it, would be highly inconvenient, and indeed injurious, 

 were the food to slip out in the same way, these gilt-rakers 

 play the part of a fine sieve, which lets the water strain off, 

 while, it keeps the food in. The gi]l-rakers of the front 

 inches are much longer thau those of the binder arches, and, 

 as each is stiffened by a thread of bone developed in Its in- 

 terior, while, at the same time, its sides are beset with fine, 

 sharp teeth, like thorns ou a brier, I suspect that they play 

 some part in crushing the life out of the small animals on 

 which the herrings prey. 



Between Hies.- arches there is, in the middle line, an open- 

 ing which leads into the gullet This pisses back into a 

 curious conical sac which is commonly termed the stomach, 

 but which has more the character of a crop. Coming off 

 from the Holier side of the sac and communicating with it 

 by a narrow opening, there is an elongated tubular organ, 

 thewnllsof which are so thick and muscular that it might 

 almost lie compared to a gizzard. It is directed forward, and 

 opens by a narrow prominent, aperture into the intestine, 

 which runs straight back to the vent. 



The chief food of the uerring consists of minute Crustacea, 

 some of them allied to the shrimps and prawns, but the ma- 

 jority belonging to the same division as the common Oyclops 

 of our fresh waters. 



Everybody must have noticed the silvery air-bladder of 

 the herring, which, lies immediately under the backbone, and 

 stretches from close to the head to very near the vent, being 

 wide in the middle and tapering off to each end. In itsnat- 

 ural state it is distended with air; and, if it is pricked, the 

 elastic wall shrinks and drives the air out, as if it were an 

 india-rubber ball. When the connections of this air-bladder 

 are fully explored, it turns out to be one of the most curious 

 parts of the organization of the whole animal. 



In the first place, the p 'in led end of the sac or crop into 

 which the gullet is continued runs back into a very slender 

 duct which turns upward and eventually opens into the mid- 

 dle oi the air-bladder. The. canal of this duet isso very small 

 and irregularly twisted, that, even if the air-bladder is 

 squeezed, the air does not escape into the sac. But, if air is 

 forced into the sac by means of a blowpipe, the air passes 

 without much difficulty the other way, and the air-bladder 

 becomes fully distended. When the pressure is Temoved, 

 however, the air-bladder diminishes in size to a certain ex- 

 tent, showing that the air escapes somewhere. And, if the 

 blowing up of the air-bladder is performed while the fish is 

 under water, a fine stream of air-bubbles' may be seen to es- 

 cape close to the vent. Careful anatomical investigation, in 

 fact, shows that the air-bladder does not really end at the 

 point where its silvery coat finishes, but that a delicate tube 

 is continued thence to the left side of the vent, and there 

 ends by an opening of it ■ . ■■ ... 



Now, the air-bladder of all fishes is, to begin with, an out- 

 growth from the front part of the alimentary canal, and 

 there are a great many fishes in which, as in the herring, it 

 remains throughout life in permanent communication with 

 the gullet, But it is rare to find the duct so far back as in 

 the herring ; and, at present, I am not aware that the air- 

 bladder opens extermdiy in any fishes except the herring and 

 a few of its allies. 



There is a general agreement among fishermen that her- 

 rings sometimes make a squeaking noise when they are first 

 taken out of the water. I have never heard this sound my- 

 self, but there is so much concurrent testimony to the fact 

 that 1 do not doubt it ; and it occurs to me that it may be 

 produced, when the herrings arc quickly brought up from 

 some depth, by menus of this arrangement. For under these 

 circumstances the air which the air-bladder contains expands 

 to such a degree, on being relieved from the pressure of the 

 water, that, deep-sea fishes with a closed air-bladder which 

 are brought to the surface rapidly are sometimes fairly 

 turn', d inside out by the immense, distension, or even burst- 

 ing, of the air-bladder. If the same thing should happen to 

 the, herring the like misfortune would not befall it, for the 

 air would be forced out of the opening in question, and. 



might readily enough produce the Bqueak which is reported. 

 At the opposite end of the air-bladder there is an even 

 more curious arrangement. Toe silvery coat of the air blad- 

 der ends in front just behind the head. But the air-bladder 

 itself does not terminate here. Two very tine canals, each 

 of which is not more than a two-hundredth of an inch in 

 diameter, though it is surrounded by a relatively thick wall 

 of cartilage, pass forward, one on each side, from the air- 

 bladder to the back of the skull. The canals enter the walls 

 of the skull, and then each divides into two branches. 

 Finally, each of these two dilates into a bag which lies in a 

 spheroidal chamber of corresponding size and form ; and, in 

 consequence of the air which they contain, these bags may 

 be seen readily enough shining through the side- walls of the 

 skull, the bone of which has a peculiar structure where it 

 surrounds them. .Now, these two bags, which constitute the 

 termination of the air-bladder on each side, are- in close re- 

 lation with the organ of hearing. Indeed, a process of that 

 organ projects into the ft out chamber on <ach side, and is 

 separated by only a very delicate partition from f i<e terminal 

 sac of the air-bladder. Any vibrations of the air in these 

 sacs, or any change in the pressure of the air in them, must 

 thus tell upon the bearing apparatus. 



There is no doubt about the existence of these structures, 

 which, together with the posterior opening of the air-blad- 

 der, were most accurately described, more than sixty years 

 ago, by the eminent anatomist Weber; but I am afraid we 

 are not much wiser regarding their meaning than we were 

 when they were first made known. In fishes in general 

 there can be. little doubt that the chief use of the air-blad- 

 der is to diminish the specific gravity of the fish, and, by ren- 

 dering its body of neaily the same weight as so much water, 

 to render the business of swimming easier. In those fishes 

 in which the passage of communication between. the air-blad- 

 der and the alimentary canal is closed, the air is no doubt 

 secreted into the air-bladder by its vessels, which are often 

 very abundant. In the herring the vessels of the air-bladder 

 are very scanty; and it seems probable that; the air is swal- 

 lowed and forced into the air-bladder just a-i the loach swal- 

 lows air and drives it into its intestine. And, as I have 

 already suggested, it may be that the narrow posterior canal 

 which leads from the air-bladder to the exterior is a sort of 

 safety-valve allowing the ai)' to escape, when the fish, rapidly 

 ascending or descending, alters the pressure of the water 

 upon the contained air. 



This hypothesis may be put forward with some show of 

 plausibility, but I really find it difficult to suggest anything 

 with respect to the physiological meaning of the con nee ion 

 between the air bladder and the ear. Nevertheless such an 

 elaborate apparatus must have some physiological importance ; 

 and this conclusion is strengthened by the well-known fact 

 that there are a great many fishes in which the air-bladder 

 and the car become connected in one way or another. In the 

 carp tribe, for example, the front end of the air-bladder is 

 connected by a series of little bones with the organ of hear- 

 ing, which is, as it were, prolonged backward to meet these 

 bones in the hinder end of the skull. But here the air-blad- 

 der, which is very large, may act as a resonator; while in 

 the herring the extreme narrowness of the passages which 

 connect the air-bladder with the ear renders it difficult, to sup- 

 pose that the organ can have any such function. 



In addition to the singular connection of the ear with the 

 exterior by the roundabout way of the air-b'adder, there are 

 membraneous spaces in the walls of the skull by which vibra- 

 tioDS can more directly reach the herring's ear. And there 

 is no doubt that the fish is very sensitive to such vibrations. 

 In a dark night, when the water is phosphorescent, or, as the 

 fishermen say, there is plenty of " merefire,'' it is a curious 

 spectacle to watch the effect of sharply tapping the side of 

 the boat as it passes over a shoal. The herrings scatter in 

 all directions, leaving streaks of light behind them, like shoot- 

 ing-stars. 



Probably 10,000 is an under-estimate of the number of ripe 

 eggs shed in spawning by a moderate-sized female herring. 

 But I think it is safer than the 30,000 of some estimates, 

 wliich appear to me to be made in forgetfulness of the very 

 simple anatomical considerations that the roe consists of an 

 extensive vascular framework as well as of eggs ; and, more- 

 over, that a vast number of the eggs which it contains re- 

 main immature, and are not shed at the time of spawning. 



Herrings which have attained maturity, and are distended 

 by the greatly enlarged milt or roe, are ready to shed the 

 contents of these, orgaus, or, as it is said, to spawn. In 1863 

 wc found a great diversity of opinion prevailed as to the 

 time at which this operation lakes place, and we took a 

 great deal of trouble to settle the question, with the result 

 which is thus stated in our report : 



" We have obtained a very large body of valuable evidence 

 on this subject, derived partly front the examination of 

 fishermen and of others conversant with the herring-fishery ; 

 partly from the inspection of the accurate records kept by the 

 fishery officers at different stations, and partly from other 

 sources ; and our clear conclusion from all this evidence is, 

 that the herring spawns at two seasons of the year, in the 

 spring and in the autumn. We have hitherto met with no 

 case of full or spawning herrings being found in any locality, 

 during what may be termed the solstitial months — namely, 

 June and December ; and it would appear that such herrings 

 are never (or very rarely) taken in May, or the early part of 

 July, in the latter part of November or the early part of 

 January. But a spring spawning certainly occurs in the 

 latter part of January, in February, in March and in April ; 

 and an autumn spawning in the latter pari, of Jul}', in 

 August, September, October, and even as late as November. 

 Taking all parts of the British coast together, February and 

 March are the great months for the spring spawning, and 

 August and September for the autumn spawning. It is not 

 at all likely that the same fish spawn twice in the year; on 

 the contrary, the spring and the autumn shoals are probably 

 perfectly distinct ; and if the herring, according to the hypo- 

 thesis advanced above, come to maturity in a year, the 

 shoals of each spawning season would be the fry of the 

 twelve-month before. However, no direct evidence can be 

 adduced in favor of this supposition, and it would he ex- 

 tremely difficult to obtain such evidence." 



I believe that these conclusions, confirmatory of those of 

 previous careful observers, are fully supported by all the evi- 

 dence which has been collected, and the fact that I his species 

 of fish has two spawning-seasons, one in the hottest and one 

 in the coldest months of the year, is very curious. 



Another singular circumstance connected with the spawn- 

 ing of the herring is the great variety of the conditions, apart 

 from temperature, to which the Ashadapts itself in perform- 

 ing this function. Ou our own coast, herrings spawn in 

 water of from ton to twenty fathoms, and even at greater 

 depths, and in a sea of full oceanic saltness. Nevertheless, 

 herrings spawn just as freely not only in the narrows of the 



Haltie, such as the Great Belt, in which the. water is not half 



as salt as it is in the North Sea and in the Atlantic, but, even 

 in such long inlets as Ihe Schlei in Sehloswig, the water of 

 which is quite drinkable and is inhabited by fresh-water lisb. 

 Here the herrings deposit their eggs in two or three, feet of 

 water, and they are found, along with the eggs of fresh-water 

 fish, sticking in abundance to such fresh- water pi oils as 

 Potarr&geton. 



Nature seems thus to offer us a hint as to the way in rhich 

 a fish like the shad, which is so closely allied to the herring,, 

 lias acquired the habit of ascending rivers to deposit.ifs eggs. 

 in purely fresh water. 



If a full female herring is gently squeezed over a vessel of 

 sea-water, the eggs will rapidly pour out and sink to the bot- 

 tom, to which they immediately adhere, with so much tenacity 

 thin, in half an hour, the vessel maybe inverted without 

 their dropping out. When spawning takes place naturally. 

 the eggs fall to the bottom and attach themselves in a similar 

 fashion, but at this time the assembled fish dart wildly about, 

 and the water becomes cloudy with the shed fluid of the milt. 

 The eggs thus become fecundated as they fall, and the de- 

 velopment of the young within the ova sticking to the bot- 

 tom commences at once. 



The first definite and conclusive evidence as to the manner 

 in which herring-spawn is attached and becomes developed 

 that I know of was obtained by Professor Allman and Dr. 

 MaoBain m 1802, in the Firth of Forth. By dredging in 

 localities in which spent herring were observed on the 1st of 

 March, Professor Allman brought up spawn in abundance at 

 a depth of fourteen to twenty-one fathoms. It was deposited 

 on the surface of the stoue, shingle and gravel, and on old 

 shells and coarse shell-sand, and even on the shells of small 

 living crabs and other Crustacea, adhering tenaciously to 

 whatever it had fallen on. No spawn was found in any 

 other part of the Forth ; but it continued to be abundant on 

 both the east and the west sides of the Isle of May up to the 

 13th of March, at which time the iucubatiou of the ovum was 

 found to be completed in a great portion of the spawn, and 

 the embryos had become free. On the 25th scarcely a trace 

 of spawn could be detected, and nearly the whole of the adult, 

 fish had left the Forth. 



Within the last few years a clear light has been thrown 

 upon this question by Ihe labors of the West Baltic Fishery 

 (.ommission, to which I have so often had occasion to refer. 

 It has been found that artificial fecundation is easily prac- 

 ticed, and that the young fish may be kept in aquaria for as 

 long as five months. Thus a great, body of accurate informa- 

 tion, some of it of a very unexpected character, has been 

 obtained respecting the development of the eggs and the early 

 condition of the young herring. 



It turns out that, as is the case with other fishes, the period 

 of incubation is closely dependent upon warmth. When the 

 water has a temperature of 53 deg. Fahr., the eggs of the 

 herring hatch in from six to eight days, the average being; 

 seven days. And this is a very interesting fact, when we 

 bear in mind the conclusion to which the inquiries of the 

 Dutch meteorologists, and, more lately, those of the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society appear to tend -namely, that Ihe shoals 

 prefer water of about 55 deg. At 50 deu. Fahr., the period 

 of incubation is lengthened to eleven days, at 46 deg. to fif- 

 teen days, and at 38 deg. it lasts forty days. As the Forth is 

 usually tolerably cool in the month of March, it is probable 

 that Professor Allman's estimate comes very near the truth 

 for the particular case which he investigated. 



The well-known "whitebait." of the Thames consists, so 

 far as I have seen, almost exclusively of herrings under six 

 months old, and as the average size of whitebait increases, 

 from March and April onward, until they become suspiciously 

 like sprats in the late summer, it may be concluded that they 

 are Ihe progeny of herrings which spawned early in the year 

 in the neighborhood of the estuary of the. Thames, up which 

 these dainty little fish have wandered. Whether it is the 

 general habit of young herring, even of those which are 

 spawned in deep water, to migrate into the shallow parts of 

 the sea, or even into completely fresh waters, when such are 

 accessible, is unknown. 



Fishermen distinguish four states of I he herring. Fry or 

 sile, when not larger than sprats; niaties, when larger than 

 this, with undeveloped roe or milt ; full fish, with largely de 

 veloped roe or milt ; and spent or shotten fish which have 

 recently spawned. 



Herring-fry of the size of sprats are distinguished from 

 full fish not merely by iheir size, but, in additi m, by the 

 very slight development of the milt or roe, and by the ac- 

 cumulation of fat in the abdominal cavity. Bands of fat are 

 found in the mesentery alongside the intestine, and filling up 

 the interspaces between the pyloric caeca, 



Maties (the name of which is a corruption of the Dutch 

 word for a maiden) resemble the fry in these particulars ; 

 but, if they are well fed, the deposit of fatty and other nu- 

 tritive ma'ter takes place, not only about the abdominal 

 viscera, but also beneath the skin and in the interstices of the 

 flesh. 



As the fish passes from the matie to the full condition, Ihe 

 milt and roe begin to grow at the expense of the nutriment 

 thus stored up, and as these organs become larger and occupy 

 moi'e and more space in the abdominal cavity the excess of 

 nutritious substance is transferred to them. The fatly de- 

 posit about the intestine and pyloric cteca gradually disap- 

 pears and the flesh becomes poorer. It would appear that 

 by degrees the fish cease to feed at all. At any rate there is 

 usually no food in the stomach of a herring which approaches 

 maturity. In all these respects there is the closest resem- 

 blance between the history of the herring and that of other 

 fishes, such as the salmon- the purr corresponding to the her 

 ring-fry or sile, the grilse and the "clean fish" of bugci 

 size to the maties. 



At length spawning takes place, the. accumulated nutrition, 

 transformed into eggs or spermatic fluid, is expelled, and the 

 fish is left in that lean and depauperated state wliich makes a 

 "shotten herring" proverbial. In this condition it answers 

 to the salmon "kelt,"and the milt or roe are now shrunk 

 and flaccid and can he blown up with air like empty bags. 

 If the spent fish escapes its myriad enemies, it doubtless be- 

 gins to feed auain and once more passes into the ma' ie state 

 in preparation for the next breeding season. But the nature 

 of this process of recuperation has yet to be investigated. 



When they have reached the matie stage, the herrings, 

 which are at all times gregarious, associate together in con- 

 spicuous assemblages, which are called shoals. These are 

 sometimes of prodigious extent — indeed, eight or nine miles 

 in length, two or three in breadth, with an unknown depth, 

 are dimensions which are credibly asserted to be sometimes 

 attained. In these shoals the fish are closely packed, like a 

 flock of sheep straying slowly along a pasture, and it is prob- 

 ably quite safe to assume that there is at least one fish for 

 every cubic foot of water occupied by the shoal. U this be 



