OF FISH. 
2 77 
are entangled in its meshes, from which they cannot dis- 
engage themselves. There they remain till the net is 
hauled in, and they are shaken or picked out. The nets 
are never stretched to catch herrings but during the 
night, for in the dark they are to be taken in much the 
greatest abundance. 
Alter the nets are hauled, the fish are thrown upon 
the deck of the vessel, and each of the crew has a certain 
task assigned to him. One part is employed in open- 
ing and gutting them, another in salting, and a third 
in packing them in the barrels in layers of salt. The red 
herrings lie twenty-four hours in the brine; they are 
then taken out, strung by the gills on little wooden spits, 
and hung in a chimney formed to receive them; after 
which a fire of brush-wood, which yields much smoke, 
but no flame, is kindled under them, and they remain 
there till sufficiently smoked and dried, when they are 
put into barrels for carriage. 
Herrings become very soon tainted after they are dead; 
in summer they are sensibly worse for being out of the 
water only a few hours; and if exposed only a few mi- 
nutes to the rays of the sun, they are quite useless, and 
will not take the salt. 
Sprat. ( Llupea . PL 48.) The sprat is a native of the 
European seas, greatly resembling the herring, though 
a good deal smaller, and having thirteen rays in the 
back fin. They are caught in the Thames from the 
beginning of November till March, and afford a very 
seasonable relief to the poor of the metropolis. 
Sprats are sometimes pickled, and rendered in fla- 
vour scarcely inferior to anchovies, from which they 
are only to be distinguished by their bones being in» 
dissoluble. 
Smelt. (PI. 48.) There are two species of this soft- 
finned, abdominal fish: which derives its name from 
hav ing, in the opinion of some, the scent of a violet, of 
others, that of a cucumber; and so strange is the disa- 
greement respecting the smell of this fish, that the Ger- 
mans bestowed upon it the name of stink-fish. 
The first species, called the hepsetus, has about twelve 
2 B 
