of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



61 



APPENDIX F.— No. IV. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING. By J. Cossar Ewart, 

 M.D., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of 

 Edinburgh, and Convener of the Scientific Investigation Committee 

 of the Fishery Board for Scotland. With Plates IV.-IX. 



I. 



VARIETIES OF THE HERRING. 



It has been long believed by fishermen and others who are engaged in 

 the fishery industry that there are several varieties of the herring, and 

 that it is not only possible to distinguish autumn herring taken off 

 the coast of England from those taken off the coast of Norway or around 

 the Shetland Islands, but that a herring taken off Wick can be readily 

 distinguished from a herring caught near Peterhead or Fraserburgh; and 

 further, that these autumn herring are different from the ' rock ' herring 

 found inshore during the winter. 



From recent investigations made by the German Commission,* it 

 appears that the spring herring of the Baltic differs from the autumn 

 herring of the North Sea, the essential difference consisting in the position 

 of the dorsal and pelvic fins, and in the length of the operculum. 



Boeck and Fiddersen,f after comparing the spring and autumn herring, 

 came to the conclusion that there is no structural difference between them; 

 and Ljungman,f after studying the spring, autumn, and wandering herring 

 found on the coast of Sweden, was unable to satisfy himself that they were 

 distinct forms. 



It is easily understanding how several varieties of herring might arise. 

 If we suppose that herring were at the outset littoral forms, it is con- 

 ceivable that some of their descendants would naturally remain inshore 

 throughout the year ; that others would wander seawards, and only return 

 to their ancestral home once a year to spawn; while others might be modi- 

 fied so as to prefer living always at sea, — depositing their spawn in deep 

 water far from shore. As a result of the different surroundings, it might 

 be supposed that slight alterations, especially in the form of the body and 

 of the fins, would arise so as to produce at least two distinct varieties. 

 Whether this has taken place has not yet been determined. Specimens 

 of herring from nearly all the fishing stations around the coast have been 

 examined during the winter and. spring, but it has been impossible to arrive 

 at any definite conclusion. Over 500 of the specimens have been carefully 

 drawn on sheets of paper, and in each instance the position of the various 

 fins, the length of the operculum, &c, indicated. A comparison of the 

 outlines shows not so much that the herring of one district, say Anstruther, 

 differ from those of another, say Ballantrae, but that there is a remarkable 

 variation amongst the herring of the same district, very often a variation 

 amongst the herring caught at the same time. Heincke considers the 

 position of the dorsal and pelvic fins of great importance in determining 

 the varieties of the herring, and by means of drawings, endeavours to 

 prove that the dorsal fin is always further from the tip of the snout in the 

 autumn than in the spring herring. From the specimens already examined, 

 I have found that there is even more variation between two spring herring 

 of the same absolute length, caught at the same place, and as nearly as 

 possible at the same stage of maturity, than Heincke finds between his 



* Heincke, 'Die Varietaten des Herings,' Jahresbericht der Commission in Keil 

 fiir 1876-78. 



t United States Commission Report, 1873-75. ■ , , ,, 



