MR. C. 8TACV-WATSUN ON T11E HERRING. 
585 
our positive knowledge of the habitat and life history of this 
fish is very meagre, and we have to pick our steps with great 
care amongst the various statements made concerning it, testing 
all, when possible, by actual examination in order to obtain the 
truth. 
The time at my disposal to-night will not permit of my taking 
more than a cursory glance at the phase of the subject which 
I have been asked to treat upon, viz., some of the more mark eel 
varieties of the Herring, their distinctive characters and dis- 
tribution. And in doing so I desire to acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to the Fish Commission of the United States of America, 
and many friends on both >ides of the Atlantic, for information 
which, but for their kindness, would have been beyond my reach. 
Kroyer, the famous Dutch ichthyologist, in deploring the scanty 
knowledge possessed regarding fish, remarked in his work ‘The 
Fish of Denmark:’ “How desirable it is to gain more insight 
into the natural history of fish is strikingly illustrated by the 
Herring, as many points in its mode of living are still unexplained, 
and many fabulous accounts are transmitted from one generation 
to another.” 
Professor Forsteck of Kiel, in a letter to me, dated October 17th, 
187G, says : “ Up to the present we know very little about 
(1) commencement and close of spawning time, (2) places where 
spawn is deposited, their depth, temperature, degree of salinity of 
bottom ; (3) the act of spawning, (4) the grounds to which the 
Herrings retire after spawning, (5) the varieties, (6) the growth 
of the fish. (7) the age at which it spawns first.” 
Hero then is food for thought, a line hunting ground for our 
operations, and one that will yield most interesting and profitable 
results. 
At one time it was thought there was but one race of Herrings 
whose home was under the ice-covered waters of the Arctic 
regions, where, protected from their natural enemies, they were 
supposed to multiply, until finding themselves overcrowded, large 
contingents of them would, in martial array, annually migrate 
southward, and in their progress, divide into sections and 
battalions, visiting, on their way, various fishing grounds, where 
the fishermen would intercept and capture them. This view has, 
or ought to have been, exploded long ago. 
