966 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
ming, which spawns outside the island-belt from the 
middle of May to the end of June, and the Autumn 
Stromming , which spawns within the island-belt at the 
end of August and beginning of September". In the 
island-belts of Stockholm and Morko * * * 6 the true spring 
spawning occurs at the end of May and beginning of 
June, the autumn spawning at the end of August and 
beginning of September. In the south-east of the Bal- 
tic, near Dantzic and Konigsberg each of the two 
spawning-seasons (varying from March — June and Au- 
gust — September) is of about the same importance to the 
fishery. Off Rtigen and on the coast of Scania the 
autumn spawning is the more important; in the extreme 
west of the Baltic, off Trave and Schleswig, the spring 
spawning, takes the upper hand. “The further south 
Ave advance along the Scanian coast”, writes Lundbeeg 0 , 
“the more seldom do Ave meet with sprmg-s pawning 
Herring. The fishermen state, one and all, that several 
years may elapse Avithout a single one being seen .... 
The spring-spaAvning Herring of the Sound, considered 
by G. Winther to be a distinct race, peculiar to the 
Sound, Avould also appear to consist of small specimens 
of the common Herring. Our Stvedish fishermen there 
do not knoAv of any spring-spawning Herring in the 
Sound, nor is there any regular fishery for Spring 
Herring on the SAvedish side. A little Herring is 
indeed taken all the year round, mainly to serve 
as bait. But the Herring-fishery proper of the Sound 
and Cattegat does not commence until the middle or end 
of August or the beginning of September, and lasts till 
the middle or end of October. Most of the Herrings 
taken, however, are not in full breeding condition, i. e. 
though they are full of roe and milt, it is not quite ripe 
or running. At Kullen I Avas assured that Herrings in 
this last condition or spaAvning Herrings are very seldom 
caught during the true season for the Herring-fishery; 
but that, after the Herring-fishery proper is over, later 
in the autumn, at the beginning of November or end 
of October, shoals of spaAvning Herrings seek shelter, 
Avhen the Avind is in the north, under the lee of Kulla- 
berg, and are then taken close in shore.” In the Cat- 
tegat the true spawning-season begins in the middle of 
September. The Herrings taken in drift-nets off the 
coast of Bohuslan during the latter half of August, 1882, 
Avere for the most part not yet in breeding condition; 
but on the 26th of September I found spaAvning Herrings 
among the takes made 3 — 5 miles off Marstrand. That 
Avas the first time, during the present Bohuslan fishery 
for Great Herring, Avhen it Avas conclusively shoAvn that 
the Herring spawns, at least toAvards the end of September, 
off the said coast, and that a very profitable fishery with 
drift-nets might be carried on for at least a month be- 
fore. That, later in the year, it continues its spaAvning 
Avithin the island-belt as Avell, Avas proved by Mr. C. A. 
Hansson, avIio found Herring-roe ready for hatching in 
Stromstad Fjord on the 5th of March, 1885. More re- 
cently (in 1888) Trybom observed the September spaAvn- 
ing of the Herring in the North Cattegat off Fladen, 
Groves-Flak, Lilia Middelgrund, and the shelving banks 
north of Anholt, and outside the Cattegat at. the edge of 
the shalloAvs Avest of the SkawJ Farther out in the Skager 
Rack, betAveen Hanst.holm (Jutland) and Christiansand 
(Nonvay), somewhat nearer to Denmark than to Norway, 
Heincke met Avith “spawning Bohuslan Herring” in the 
middle of September, 1889 b The younger Herring, 
the Grass Herring of the Bohuslan island-belt, spawns 
in spring, during March, April and May. 
The Herring, like most fishes, chooses its spawning- 
places in Avater shalloiver than its ordinary home, and 
during youth at least, it also seeks for this purpose 
water of less salinity 7 * . The large Herring can spawn 
in 60 — 100 fathoms of water 9 , though it usually comes 
nearer to the coast; the smaller Herrings ascend into 
water sometimes no more than a fathom deep. In the 
neighbourhood of Stockholm the spawning is performed, 
according to Sundevall, outside the island-belt or in 
the larger fjords, on rises of the bottom or reefs Avith 
5 — 10 fathoms of water, close to land sometimes in 
only 3 fathoms. In the Baltic fishery the rule applies, 
that the males are the earlier, both in age and season, 
to attain breeding condition — during the spaAvning- 
fishery the males are usually taken first. But Boeck 
“ He further adduces from these regions sill, large males, with soft and running milt at midsummer or earlier, Seine Stromming, 
shotten Spring Stromming which is resting during the early summer and is then taken within the island-belt, and Red-bellied, Stromming, 
answering to the Fat Herring of the Atlantic, with sexual organs not yet tumid. 
6 Cf. Sundevall and Ekstr&m. 
c Meddelanden rdrande Sveriges Fiskerier, Haft. I, p. 40. 
d Sillundersokningar vid Sveriges vestlcust hosten 1888, Kongl. Civildepartementet, III, p. 16. 
e Mitth. Sect. Kirsten-, Hochs. Fischerei, Deutsch. Fisch. Ver., Jan. — Febr. 1890, p. 23. 
1 Meyer, Jahrber. Comm. Unters. Deutsch. M., Kiel, 1874 — 76, p. 232. 
o Boeck, Nord. Tidskr. Fiskeri, Kbhvn, Aarg. 2, 1875, p. 263. 
