Return, 
Defer, 
288 HIE, RO RYTON. G. \Ckaaee 
They are in full roe the end of Fune, and continue 
in perfection till the beginning of winter, when they 
begin to depofit their fpawn. The young herrings 
. begin to approach the fhores in Fuly and Auguft, and 
are then from half an inch to two inches long : thofe 
in Yorkfbire are called Herring Sile*. ‘Tho’ we have 
no particular authority for it, yet as very few young 
herrings are found in our feas during winter, it feems 
moft certain that they muft return to their parental 
haunts beneath the ice, to repair the vaft deftruction 
of their race during fummer, by men, fowl and 
fifh. Some of the old herrings eontinue on our 
coafts the whole year: the Scarborough filhermen 
never put down their nets but they catch a few; 
but the numbers that remain are not worth men- 
tion in comparifon to the numbers that return. 
Herrings vary greatly in fize. Mr. Yravis com- 
municated to me the information of an experienced 
fifher, who informed him that there is fometimes 
taken near Yarmouth, a herring diftinguifhed by a 
black fpot above the nofe; and that he once faw 
one that was twenty-one inches and an half long. 
He infifted that it was a different fpecies, and va- 
ried as much from the common herring as that 
does from the pilchard. This we mention in order 
to incite fome curious perfon on that coaft to a far- 
ther enquiry. 
The eye is very large: the edges of the upper jaw 
and the tongue are very rough, but the whole mouth 
* The Sueaes and Dazes call the old herring Sil/; but the 
people of Sk/w from whence the Anglo-Saxons came call 
the fry Sylez. 
iS 
