Trawling for Herring on the Coasts of Scotland. 118 
We have measured two maties from Labrador, respectively 
133 and 13,3, inches long; while Mr Mitchell, in his valuable 
essay on the herring, states that the Norwegians have a consider- 
able fishery at Stadtland, where they generally get very large 
herrings, few being under a foot in length, and many 15 inches. 
Hence it is quite safe to assume that adult full herrings may 
vary in length from 10 inches to 15, while it is possible that 
they may vary from 7 inches to 17 inches. There is nothing 
really remarkable about this, as other fish vary in dimensions in 
their adult state to fully the same extent,—a consequence of their 
continuing to grow long after they have reached the age at which 
they are capable of propagating their kind. 
It has been frequently asserted, and evidence has been re- 
peatedly laid before us to the effect, that particular lochs on the 
west coast of Scotland, such as Loch Broom and Loch Hourn, 
are inhabited only by herrings of a size smaller than the 
average; but, on the other hand, equally trustworthy evidence 
has directly negatived these assertions, the witnesses on this side 
affirming that the herrings of these lochs differ in no appreciable 
respect from those met with in other localities. We can give no 
opinion on this subject, as the time at our disposal was necessarily 
employed in investigating matters more directly relevant to the 
objects of the Commission. 
When the herring first attain the full condition, the roe or the 
milt, as the case may be, is firm and hard; and pressure upon 
the belly of the fish will not give rise to the extrusion of ova, or 
seminal fluid, from the apertures of the reproductive organs. 
But the texture of the latter rapidly becomes softer, and soon 
acquires a semi-fluid consistency, so that the slightest pressure 
causes the reproductive elements to pass out of the body. 
If a female in this state be squeezed, and the ova received into 
a vessel full of sea-water, they will all fall to the bottom; and 
the viscid substance, with which the ova are coated, causing them 
to adhere together, forms a thick cake, which, after a few hours’ 
rest, constitutes a dense consistent mass, so firmly adherent to the 
bottom of the vessel that the latter may be suddenly inverted 
without detaching the ova. Indeed, to separate these either from 
one another or from the body to which they adhere, demands the 
exertion of a certain force, which as often ends in the destruction 
of the eggs as in their detachment. 
It would seem as if all the superfluous nourishment in the 
body of the herring were applied to supply the rapid increase of 
the reproductive organs; for shotten, or spent herrings, so called 
because their roe and milt are completely emptied of their contents, 
not only have no fat about their intestines, but even their muscular 
substance is almost devoid of fat, and is consequently harsh, dry, 
NEW SERIES.—VOL, XVIIJ. NO. I.—JULY 18638. P 
