100 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



decrease. In August they form about one half of the shoals, and are 

 considerably larger than in the two previous months. 



The winter and spring sprats were about one-third to one-half grown. 

 In June, July, and August, however, they were much smaller, and 

 evidently developed from a later spawning, which would be in accordance 

 with the spawning season suggested by the occurrence of ripe sprats from 

 such widely separated localities as Girvan, Stonehaven, the Firth of Forth, 

 and the Moray Firth, recorded in the Report of the Scottish Fishery 

 Board for 1883, the winter sprats being probably six to eight months 

 old. 



Most of the young herring would appear to be developed from spawn 

 deposited during the spring months. 



There is not much difficulty in distinguishing a sprat from a herring 

 by the external characters only, when the fish are above 2 inches long, 

 but it becomes a difficult matter below that length. One of the most 

 notable differences between the species, when more than 3 inches long, 

 viz., the relative position of the dorsal and pelvic fins, is at the earlier 

 stage of no value, the pelvic fin of the very young herring being commonly, 

 like the sprats, anterior to the dorsal. One of the distinctions between 

 these fish, first pointed out by Heincke, viz., that a line from the base of 

 the pectoral fin and passing exactly across the lowest point of the oper- 

 culum, will pass through or over the eye in the herring, but beneath the 

 eye and through the snout of the sprat, is in these young fish generally 

 of value, but the test requires to be applied with an exactitude inappli- 

 cable to a large number. 



The possession by the herring of 9 rays in the pelvic fin and of 7 by 

 the sprat is also a sound test, but difficult of application, on account of 

 the soft character of the fin, the liability of the rays to split the difficulty 

 of separating them as well as the injury sustained by crushing in the 

 netted fish. 



The best test undoubtedly is the number of vertebrae which in all the 

 cases examined varied (as in the adults) from 47 to 49 in the sprats, and 

 from 56 to 58 in the herrings, although these also required more than 

 one enumeration in the case of the very small examples even with a lens. 

 Experience in examination of these small fish adds some further evidence 

 towards their correct identification in the number of pyloric coeca, the 

 pigmentation, shape of the head, &c., and with ordinary care there seems 

 to be no difficulty in absolutely deciding, not only their identity with 

 herrings and sprats, but also their distinction from each other. 



APPENDIX F.— No. VI. 



PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON THE FOOD OF FISHES. 



. 0 ni h- o?50ill aJiii // .it^o'i oii 



x{v . Introduction. . voiJ>c eilj M 'il tobivs - 

 to iir i?.u odi \o i£()iq'i^ bsiehiBaoo 



With a view of obtaining information as to the food of our more 

 important food-fishes, a large amount of material has been examined 

 during the last two years. This has chiefly been supplied by the officers 

 of the Board, who have received from time to time the necessary in- 

 structions for the collection and preservation of specimens. In the present 

 inquiry our attention has been mainly directed to a study of the food- 



