MR. J. T. HOTBLACK ON THE HERRING. 
15 
I. 
SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT HERRINGS. 
By J. T Hotblack. 
Read 30th October, 180 b. 
It has been said, “Of all the lishes the Herring is king;” but that 
must have been when in English “king” was thought a sufficiently 
high title for a supreme ruler, now surely he should be styled 
king and emperor. King of his own order (the Clupeida*) and 
emperor over all the other kings in the world of fishes, for is not 
his importance commercially so great as to put him head and 
shoulders above all his rivals ! When comparing him with the other 
denizens of the deep, is it not like comparing the British navy of 
tho present day with any possible rival ; the question being, not 
if any one will equal it, but which two or three combined would 
do so. 
I do not propose to burden this paper with statistics, or to attempt 
to show the relative importance of the Herring and other fish, but 
I feel that I cannot make myself at all intelligible as to the 
Herring, without entering into some particulars of its own family, 
the Clupeidie. 
According to Couch, one of the older authorities on British 
Fishes, the Clupeida' includes — 
Cl u pea haremjux 
the Herring 
the Pilchard 
the Sprat 
Chtpea pilchardu s 
C/upea sprattus 
C/npea sardina 
Chi pea alba 
the Sardine 
Whitebait 
Chtpea leach ii 
Leach’s Herring 
lie puts the Shad into another genus, which he calls “ Alosa,” 
and the Anchovy he gives a genus to itself, “Engraulis;” but he 
