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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Parliament in 1863. There will be found therein a careful 
analysis of an immense mass of evidence, and the cautiously 
expressed opinion of men who have investigated the ques- 
tion of the herring fishery, in all its aspects. Let us add also, 
that those of our readers who thoroughly understand the nature 
of Mr. Darwin's theory of “ Natural Selection ” will detect in 
the evidence given before the Commissioners some facts which 
are powerfully corroborative of Darwinian doctrines. 
Concerning the possible influence of certain modes of legis- 
lating on the subject of the herring-fisheries, we cannot do 
better in conclusion than quote some of the final passages of 
the document alluded to : * — 
Consider the destruction of large herring by cod and ling alone. It is a 
very common thing to find a cod-fish with six or seven large herrings, of 
which not one has remained long enough to be digested, in his stomach. If, 
in order to be safe, we allow a cod-fish only two herrings per diem , and let 
him feed on herrings for only seven months the year, then 2 X 210 = 420 
herring as his allowance during that time ; and fifty cod-fish will equal one 
fisherman in destructive power. But the quantity of cod and ling taken in 
1861, and registered by the Fishery Board, was over 80,000 cwt. On an 
average, 30 cod-fish go to 1 cwt. of the dried fish. Hence, at least, 2,400,000 
cod-fish were caught in 1861. But if 50 cod-fish equal 1 fisherman, 2,400,000 
will equal 48,000 fishermen. In other words, the cod and ling caught on the 
Scotch coasts in 1861, if they had been left in the water, would have caught 
as many herring as a number of fishermen equal to all those in Scotland , and 
six thousand more, in the same year ; and as the cod and ling caught were 
certainly not one tithe part of those left behind, we may fairly estimate the 
destruction of herring, by these voracious fish alone, as at least ten times as 
great as that effected by all the fishermen put together. 
When it is further considered, that the conger and the dog-fish probably 
do as much mischief as the cod and ling, that the gulls and the gannets slay 
their millions, and that the porpoises and grampuses destroy additional 
untold multitudes, it will probably be thought no exaggerated under-estimate 
if we assume that our fishery operations, extensive as they are, do not effect 
5 per cent, of the total destruction of maties and full herring that takes place 
every year. .... If legislation could regulate the appetites of cod, conger, 
and porpoise, it might be useful to pass laws regarding them ; but to prevent 
fishermen from catching their poor one or two per cent, of herring in any 
way they please, when the other ninety-eight per cent., subject to destructive 
agencies, are poached in all sorts of unrecognized piscine methods, seems 
a wasteful employment of the force of law. 
* “ Report of the Royal Commission,” 1863, pp. 29 and 31. 
