566 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
in which they were formerly very plentiful ; hut it is also certain that, 
in many of the fishing stations, fish arc taken all the year round. 
Moreover, the discovery that the herring of America is a distinct 
species from that of Europe, and that they do not even spawn in the 
same waters, is fatal to the theory. In short, there is a total absence 
of proof of their pretended migrations to high northern latitudes, and 
recent discoveries all tend to show that the herring is native to the 
shores on which it is taken. 
“ It has been demonstrated,” says Dr. Bertram, “ that the herring 
is really a native of our immediate seas, and can he caught all the year 
roimd on tho coast of the three kingdoms. The fishing begins at the 
island of Lewis, in the Hebrides, in the month of May, and goes on as 
the year advances, till in July it is being prosecuted off the coast of 
Caithness; while in autumn and winter we find large supplies of 
herrings at Yarmouth ; there is a winter fishery in the Eirth of Forth. 
Moreover, this fish is found in the south long before it ought to be 
there, according to the emigration theory. It has been deduced, from 
a consideration of the annual takes of many years, that the herring 
exists in distinct races, which arrive at maturity month after month. 
It is well known that the herrings taken at Wick in July are quite 
different from those caught at Dunbar in August and September ; 
indeed I would go further, and say that even at Wick each month has 
its changing shoal, and that as one race appears for capture another 
disappears, having fulfilled its mission. It is certain that the herrings 
of these different seasons vary considerably in size and appearance ; 
localities are marked by distinctive features. Thus the well known 
Loch Fyne herring is essentially different from that of the Firth of 
Forth ; and those differ again, in many particulars, from those caught 
off Yarmouth. In fact, the herring never ventures far from the shore 
where it is taken ; and its condition, when it is caught, is just an 
index of the feeding it has enjoyed in its particular locality. The 
superiority of flavour of the herring taken in our great land-locked 
salt-water lochs is undoubted. Whether or not resulting from the 
depth and body of water, from more plentiful marine vegetation, or 
from the greater variety of land food likely to be washed into these 
inland seas, has not yet been determined, but it is certain that the 
herrings of our western sea-lochs are infinitely superior to those 
captured in the more open sea.” “ Moreover,” he adds, “ it is now 
