Obituary Notices. 
xli 
ences in the position of the fins, and other points, were elaborately 
investigated and tabulated with a tenacity of purpose and innate 
skill in the manipulation of figures which v r ere prominent charac- 
teristics of Mr Matthews. He cautiously concludes this preliminary 
paper by the statement that the winter and summer herrings 
slightly differ, viz., in the more posterior position of the fins, the 
doubtfully smaller head and slightly lesser size of the summer 
herrings. 
About this time he also investigated the kindred subject of the 
whitebait of the Thames and Forth, and published, in conjunction 
with Professor Ewart, his results in a short paper. The percentage 
of sprats and young herrings in these localities is given — the former 
largely predominating. In the winter fishing of the Firth of Forth 
the young herrings are practically absent, and in that of the 
Thames they are in the proportion of only 6 per cent. As the 
season advances the number of young herrings increases — reaching 
in May and June 80 per cent, of the shoals, but again decreasing 
in July. 
He continued his persevering researches on the supposed races of 
the herring in Scottish waters, and issued a second paper on the 
subject in the Fishery Board’s Report for 1887. Here, again, the 
careful nature of his work, his respect for the observations of others, 
and his own sound deductions are noteworthy. As the result of 
his laborious tables and long-continued attention to the subject, he 
states that there is no true racial distinction between the herrings of 
the various localities around our coasts, and that the slight differ- 
ences indicated in his former paper do not — after more extended 
observations — warrant him in making' a distinction. The variations 
in the position of the dorsal fin during the growth of the herring 
would alone have rendered the observer careful not to place too 
much weight on the slight differences formerly indicated, and one 
can almost sympathise with the earnest young worker who so faith- 
fully plodded through such a mass of materials — skilfully handling 
every available point — yet with only a negative result as the reward 
of his free expenditure of labour. He, however, had a talent for 
figures, and his deductions were always characterised by conscien- 
tiousness and exactness. 
His investigations on the herring had rendered hipi familiar with 
d 
