270 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



it is said that the fishermen of Scotland go out to meet 

 the shoals as far as the Orkney and Shetland islands, — 

 a useless labour, one would imagine^ seeing that these 

 very fish, in a few days^ would reach the southern parts 

 of Scotland. 



(236.) The spawning is over, by those few^ compara- 

 tively, who escape their numerous enemies, of which 

 man is the chief, by the end of autumn ; and this being 

 accomplish edj they again return to the depths of the 

 ocean — or, at least, are no more seen, until the following 

 year. Mr. Yarrell observes, however, that the young 

 abound in shallow Avater, all round our shores in the 

 summer months, and that they remain in the mouth of the 

 Thames during their first autumn and winter. Perhaps 

 the most conclusive evidence against the migratory 

 habits of this fish, at least from the north, is furnished 

 by the fact, that they visit the west coast of Cork in 

 August, which is earlier than the arrival of those which 

 come down the Irish Channel, and long before they ap- 

 pear at other places much farther north. Mr. Wilson 

 observes, that the herrings caught upon the east coast 

 of Scotland are much inferior to those taken on the west 

 coast, and more particularly to those of Loch Fine, and 

 other lakes of Argyleshire. We were assured of this, 

 also, by our friend, Robert Findlay, esq., of Glasgow^ 

 who further stated that they were caught at different 

 periods of the year. A question naturally arises out of 

 these facts, — May they not be of different species ? '"''Dr. 

 Knox states," continues Mr. Wilson, '^^ that the herrings 

 taken near the Firth of Forth are foul, or are engaged 

 in spawning ; while those of the west coast, in the same 

 season, have the organs of reproduction very slightly 

 developed * :" and he conjectures that the particular 

 crustaceous animal which forms their favourite food^ may 

 exist abundantly in the bays of Western Scotland, but " 

 either not at all, or not in sufficient quantities, along the 

 eastern coast. The time of spawning, according to Wil- 

 son (who is probably speaking of the Scotch herrings), 



* Encyc. Brit. art. Ichthyology, p. 214. 



