The fecundity of the Herring is astonishing. It has been calculated that if the offspring of a single pair of Herrings could be suffered to multiply unmolested and undiminished for twenty years, they would exhibit a bulk ten times the size of the earth. But, happily, Providence has contrived the balance of nature by giving them innumerable enemies. All the monsters of the deep find them an easy prey; and, in addition to these, immense flocks of sea-fowl watch their outset, and spread devastation on all sides. In the year 1773, the Herrings for two months were in such immense shoals on the Scotch coasts, that it appears from tolerably accurate computations, no fewer than one thousand six hundred and fifty boat-loads were taken in Loch Torridon in one night. These would, in the whole, amount to nearly twenty thousand barrels. This fish is prepared in different ways, in order to be kept for use through the year. The white, or pickled Herrings, are washed in fresh water, and left the space of twelve or fifteen hours in a tub full of strong brine, made of fresh water and sea-salt. When taken out, they are drained, and put in rows or layers in barrels, with salt. Red Herrings are prepared in the same manner, with this difference, that they are left in the brine double the time above mentioned; and when taken out, placed in a large chimney constructed for the purpose, and containing about twelve thousand, where they are smoked by means of a fire underneath, made of brushwood, for the space of twenty-four hours. [Illustration: THE SPRAT, (_Clupea Sprattus_,)] A WELL-KNOWN fish, between four and five inches in length, the back fin very remote from the nose; the lower jaw longer than the upper, and the eyes blood-shot, like those of the herring, to which it is nearly allied. Sprats arrive yearly in the beginning of November in the river Thames; and generally a large dish of them is presented on the table at Guildhall, on Lord Mayor’s Day, November 9th. They continue through the winter, and depart in March. They are sold by measure, and yield a great deal of sustenance to poor people in the winter season. It is reported that they have been taken yearly about Easter-time in a lake in Cheshire, called Kostern Mere, and in the river Mersey, in which the sea ebbs and flows seven or eight miles below the lake. The Sardine (_Clupea Sardina_) is caught on the southern shores of France, where it is held in great repute; and from its abounding in the neighbourhood of the island of Sardinia, it is called the Sardine. It is sent here pickled in the same way as herrings, and packed in barrels. THE PILCHARD. (_Clupea Pilchardus._)