THE chief difference between this fish and the herring is, that the body of the Pilchard is more round and thick; the nose shorter in proportion, turning up; and the under jaw shorter. The back is more elevated, and the belly not so sharp. The scales adhere very closely, whilst those of the herring easily drop off. It is also, in general, of considerably smaller size. About the middle of July, Pilchards appear in vast shoals off the coast of Cornwall. These shoals remain till the latter end of October, when it is probable they retire to some undisturbed deep, at a little distance, for the winter. The Pilchard fishery is an important branch of commerce. From a statement of the number of hogsheads exported each year, for ten years, from 1747 to 1756 inclusive, from the four ports of Fowy, Falmouth, Penzance, and St. Ives, it appears that Fowy exported yearly one thousand seven hundred and thirty-two hogsheads; Falmouth, fourteen thousand six hundred and thirty-one; Penzance and Mount’s Bay, twelve thousand one hundred and forty-nine; St. Ives, one thousand two hundred and eighty-two: in all, twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and ninety-four hogsheads. Every hogshead, for ten years last past, together with the bounty allowed for exportation, and the oil made out of it, has amounted, one year with another, at an average, to the price of one pound thirteen shillings and three pence; so that the cash paid for Pilchards exported has, at a medium, annually amounted to the sum of forty-nine thousand five hundred and thirty-two pounds. The above was the state of the fishing several years ago; at present it is still more extensive, the average annual produce of the Cornish fisheries amounting to about twenty-one thousand hogsheads, which contain no less than sixty millions of Pilchards. THE WHITEBAIT. (_Clupea alba._) THIS beautiful little fish is a pure white, without spots on either side. Immense quantities are caught from the beginning of April to the end of September, in the Thames; but they are so delicate as scarcely to bear carriage, and are therefore thought best when eaten as near as possible to the place where they were taken; and hence the custom of having Whitebait dinners at the taverns at Greenwich and Blackwall. It was long supposed that the Whitebait was the fry of the shad, but it is now proved to be a distinct species. [Illustration: THE ANCHOVY. (_Engraulis encrasicolus._)]