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Part III. — Seventeenth Annual Report 



vertebrae to first haemal arch mostly at 25 ; body long, head, and 

 especially tail, short ; anal fin moderate to short ; head with tolerably 

 short and high snout ; snout mesobrachycephalic ; tolerably frequent, 8 

 rays in ventral fin, in from 20 to 30 per cent, of all individuals. 



To this race belong all the great shoals in the Xorth Sea, which 

 constitute the material for the great fisheries on the Scottish coast, to the 

 Dogger Bank, in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. These inhabit the open 

 sea, and come for spawning in summer and autumn to places from near 

 the coast to the rising banks (about forty miles out), those on the Scottish 

 side near in, those on the eastern side further out (40 to 60 sea miles). 

 Their young are born and grow up in the open sea, and extend seldom 

 or never into the mouths of rivers. 



VI. Autumn or Sea Herring of the Soutliern Xorth Sea (Southern 

 Bank Herring). — Closely allied to foregoing; smaller size of head; 

 extraordinary large number of keeled scales, 15 on average, to 17 and even 

 20 in individual cases ; in young also these scales are much sharper than 

 in any other group ; skull strongly brachycephalic — 31 "0 to 32 on average. 



Belonging to this group are the autumn-herring of the German Bight, 

 those of the Dutch coast, probably those of the English coast (though 

 these have not yet been studied), and those to the south of the Dogger 

 Bank. True spawning period not exactly known, from mid-summer to 

 November probably, nor spawning places, which are probably from 

 somewhere near the coast to the Dogger Bank. 



The young are born and grow up in the open sea, but may extend to 

 the German and Dutch coasts, as also those somewhat older ; those ripe 

 for the first time (young autumn-herring of the mouth of the Elbe) may 

 extend to the mouths of rivers and brackish waters, if the water is still 

 sufficiently saline. 



These are small and of poor quality ; this was not always so, however. 

 A hundred years ago this fishery was important, and may become so 

 again. If the herring shoals make such great wanderings as they are 

 said to do, from the ocean in the Xorth down along the whole east coast 

 of Great Britain, it is a matter of wonder that they do not proceed 

 even further into the southern parte of the North Sea and into the 

 German Bight. This they never do. We must conclude, then, 

 that there are some unknown invisible limits to their wanderings m the 

 sea. 



VII. Autumn or Sea Herring of the Baltic (Bank Herring of the 

 Baltic). — Through the intermediary of the autumn-herring of the 

 Kattegat, this group is also allied to Group V.; size, 250mm. on average, 

 but towards Riigen and Gotland Bank growing less to 220 and 210 mm. 

 (in size it is much smaller than the spring-herring of the same regions) ; 

 number of vertebrae small, 56 - 0 on average, and less to 5 5 "5 ; number of 

 vertebrae to the first haemal arch high, 25*0 and more; number of keeled 

 scales moderate, 14*0 to 14*5 ; dorsal and ventral fins placed far back; 

 rays of ventral tins show tendency to change from 8 to 9. 



The autumn-herring of the Belt, of the western Baltic, and of a stretch of 

 the eastern Baltic from Riigen by Bornholm to Gottland, belong to this 

 gToup. They spawn from the middle of September to the end of October, 

 on the banks in the open sea, as off the coast of Fehmarn, but never in 

 the bights or brackish waters. 



VIII. Spring-herring of the eastern Baltic or " Streamlingsy — These 

 are of small size, mature for first time at a size much less than 

 200mm. ; in the Bothnian Gulf they have been found mature at only 

 125mm. ; number of vertebrae small, under 55 "5 to 55 - 0 on an average; 

 keeled scales behind ventral fins also small in number, the highest 14 - 0 



