various accounts which have been published are so indefinite and mixed up that it is difficult to know in many cases which species is being referred to. There is, indeed, very little difference between them, except perhaps in size.

In several accounts they are referred to by their technical names, and it is almost necessary, in seeking to understand the references, to give the full synonymy of both species as far as New Zealand literature is concerned. It must also be mentioned that in several of the references to herring in New Zealand waters, the common sea-mullet, Agonostomus forsteri, is the fish intended, which is not a Clupeid at all, but is allied to the true mullets.

1. New Zealand Pilchard.

Sardinia neo-pilchardus Steindachner, Den. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 41, 1, p. 12 (1879).

1867. Clupea melanosticta, McCoy, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 20, p. 188.

1872. Clupea sajax, Castelnau, Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict., 1, p. 187; and Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 3, 355 (1879).

Clupea sagax, Jenyns, Hutton, Cat. Fishes of N.Z, p. 63.

Clupea sagax, Hector (not of Jenyns), Cat. Fishes of N.Z.,

1879. Clupea sagax, Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 4, p. 37; and 6, p. 258, 1882.

1882–83. Clupea sagax, Johnston, Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasm., p. 133; and 1890, p. 37.

1883. Clupea sagax, Arthur, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 15, p. 208, pl. 34.

1886. Clupea sagax, Ogilby, Catal. Fishes N. S. Wales, p. 56, and Edib. Fishes N.S.W., p. 180 (1893).

1890. Clupea sagax, Lucas, Proc. Roy. Soc. Vict., 2, p. 37.

Clupea sagax, Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 22, p. 284.

1904. Clupea sagax, Hutton, Index Faunae N.Z., p. 51.

1907. Clupea sagax, Waite, Rec. Cant. Mus., 1, p. 10.

1908. Clupea sagax, Zeitz, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Aust., 32, p. 294.

1918. Clupea sagax, Thomson, N.Z. Journ. Sc. & Tech., 1, p. 8.

1899. Clupanodon neo-pilchardus, Waite, Mem. Aust. Mus., 4, p. 53.

1904. Clupanodon neo-pilchardus, Waite, Mem. N.S.W. Nat. Club, 2, p. 13.

1905. Clupanodon neopilchardus, Waite, Rec. Aust. Mus. 6, Dl., p. ts.

1908. Clupanodon neopilchardus, Stead, Edib. Fishes N. S. Wales, p. 95.

1911. Clupanodon neopilchardus, McCulloch, Zool. Res. “Endeavour,” 11, p. 17.

Clupea neo-pilchardus, Klunzinger, Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien., 80, 1, DSNO, p. 416.

Clupea neo-pilchardus, Waite, Rec. Cant. Mus., 13, p. 158 and 14, 317.

1921. Clupea neo-pilchardus, Thomson, Hist. Port. M.F. Hatchery, p. 70.

1915. Amblygaster neopilchardus, Cockerell, Mem. Old. Mus., 3, p. 36.

1916. Amblygaster neopilchardus, Ogilby, Mem. Old. Mus., 5, p. 98.

Amblygaster neopilchardus, Waite, Aust. Ant. Exped., 3, pp. 56 and 81.

Sardina neopilchardus, Regan, Brit. Ant. Exped. Zool., 1, 4, p. 136, and Mag. Nat. Hist. 8, 18, p. 14.

1919. Sardinia neopilchardus, Stein. McCulloch, Rec. Aust. Mus. 12, 8, p. 172, pl. 26.

1921. Sardinia neopilchardus, Phillipps, N.Z. Journ. Sc. & Tech., 4, p. 118.

1924. Sardinia neopilchardus, Phillipps, N.Z. Journ. Sc. & Tech., 7; p. 191 and figure.

2. New Zealand Sprat.

Harengula antipoda Hector.

1872. Clupea spratus, var. antipodum, Hector, Edib. Fishes N.Z., p.l. 33.

1873. Clupea spratus, var. antipodum, Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 5, p. 270, pl. 12.

1883. Clupea spratus, var. antipodum, Arthur, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 15, 203, pl. 34.

1886. Clupea spratus, var. antipodum, Sherrin, N.Z. Fishes, p. 92.

1890. Clupea spratus, var. antipoda, Hector, Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 22, p. 284.

1904. Clupea antipoda, Hutton, Index Fanuae N.Z., p. 51.

1907. Clupea antipodum, Waite, Rec. Cant. Mus., 1, p. 10.

1911. Harengula antipoda, Waite, Rec. Cant. Mus. 1, p. 160

1912. Amblygaster antipodus, Waite, Rec. Cant. Mus., 1, p. 317.

1916. Clupea holodon, Regan, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 18, p. 5.

1917. Clupea antipodum, Regan, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 19, p. 227.

1921. Amblygaster antipodus, Thomson, Hist. Port. M. F. Hatchery, p. 70.

Clupea antipoda, Phillipps, N.Z. Journ. Sc. & Tech., 4, p. 118.

In McCulloch's Check List of N. S. Wales Fishes, p. 16, will be found a key to the Clupeidae. This gives the generic characters as the same for both genera, with the slight exception that Sardinia has several radiating grooves on the operculum, whereas Harengula has only one. This characteristic can be noticed in Arthur's outline drawings (Trans. 15, p. 208), but it is difficult to notice in the specimens themselves. It is better to judge by the contour of the body, the sprat being deeper and more rounded in the belly than the pilchard. Indeed the total differences are so small, that it is only by careful comparison that one is able to distinguish which is which. The sprat is the smaller of the two, but in the numerous notices of these fish, the name “sprat” probably includes in many cases immature pilchards.

The following extracts refer chiefly to pilchards. P. Thomson in “Fish and their seasons,” (Trans. N.Z. Inst. 9, pp. 484–490, 1876) says:—“A true herring visits the coast (of Otago) in immense pro-

fusion in the autumn. The time of their arrival is uncertain, and is only known by the great flocks of birds which attend the shoals.” In 1877 (Trans. 10, pp. 324–30.) he says—“The herring (Clupea sagax) was brought to market in good quantity in Junuary. Some specimens measured 11 in. long; the average were about 9 inches. On several days in the middle of February the fish were again in the market.” He adds—“The true herring is a migratory fish, when it is present in immense shoals. Those brought to town varied from 7 to 11 inches in length.” In the following season, 1877–78, no Clupeids were reported in the Dunedin market.

W. Arthur, in notes on “the Picton herring,” (1883) says the fish seem to inhabit Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds throughout the whole year. Quoting Mr. Fell—“they are not easy fish to find unless they are rushing to the surface, which is not often, and which is a most peculiar sight… They come into the shallow bays during the winter. At that time of the year they keep together in large shoals and prefer colder water. They spawn during the summer and are always full of roe about Christmas time, when they keep in small shoals.” Arthur gives line drawings of the Sprat 4½ inches long, and of a Pilchard about 10 inches long.

Hector says of the Pilchard—“this is the true representative of the herring kind in New Zealand,” and is reported to visit Otago coast every year in February and March. “On the last occasion it was observed that the shoal was migrating southwards and extended as far as the eye could reach, followed by a multitude of gulls, mutton birds, barracouta and porpoises. So densely packed were the fish that by dipping a pitcher in the sea it would contain half fish.” Later in the same work (Edible Fishes of N.Z.) he remarks that a herring cast up on the beach in Foveaux Strait, and a second smaller one obtained near Wellington, prove to be a different fish, hardly distinguishable from the European sprat.

In a paper on these and other fishes observed by lighthouse-keepers on the New Zealand coast, G. M. Thomson reports in 1891, —“The recorders were mostly unable to distinguish between these species. They are only noted from Moeraki, Catlin's River, Waipapapa Point and Milford Sound, but at these localities they occurred at certain seasons in enormous quantities. From Moeraki they are only reported as occurring in March in enormous abundance. In the Catlins River estuary they were found in numbers in the rock pools in June, the larger ones with the ova well advanced. From Waipapapa Point they are recorded by Mr. Ericson as passing continuously through Foveaux Strait from November to April, usually pursued and driven ashore in great numbers by the mutton-birds. In January the ova were nearly ripe in many of the fish, while of those taken in April, some of the fish carried ripe ova, and some had spawned. In Milford Sound these fish were reported as occurring all the year round, being frequently driven ashore by cowfish and other enemies. Their abundance is testified by entries like the following:—“December, 1885. Tons of pilchards thrown up on the beaches at the end of this month.” Fish taken in October had the ova nearly ripe, while for two years in succession they were found to be spawning during November and December.

Phillipps reports that “during the month of July, 1924, Wellington Harbour was visited by an enormous shoal of Pilchards or Sardines (Sardinia neopilchardus).”

The occurrence of this fish in Australian waters is as erratic as it is in New Zealand. McCoy recorded their occurrence in Hobsons Bay in August, 1864–66. They arrived in such countless numbers that carts were filled with them simply by dipping them out of the sea with large baskets. Hundreds of tons of the fish were sent to the inland Victorian markets, and they were sold in Melbourne for several weeks by the bucket-full for a few pence. Captains of ships entering Hobsons Bay reported having passed through shoals of pilchards for miles. Macleay in 1869 ascertained from the fishermen that their annual visit to the New South Wales coast was about June and July, when enormous shoals were generally observed one to three miles from the land, and migrating northwards. According to Stead (1908) shoals of mature pilchards, 9 to 10 inches long, are usually making northwards along the New South Wales coast in September, and small bodies of these are often found among mackerel of equal size.

On the east coast of Australia the pilchard ranges from Tasmania northwards to Moreton Bay and Harvey Bay in Queensland, and also occurs in West Australia.

The references to the sprat are even more fragmentary and of more doubtful accuracy than those to the pilchard. It is recorded by Hector from Foveaux Strait and from Wellington in 1872. In Otago it was reported by Arthur as appearing near Oamaru close inshore in May, 1882, for about a fortnight. Then bad weather set in, and the fish disappeared. The shoals were not seen at Moeraki, nor near Dunedin. Arthur gives a mass of interesting information obtained from Messrs. Stoddart and Cosgrove, but it is more probably referable to pilchards than to sprats. It deals chiefly with the enormous shoals of these fish which occur on the coast. Waite, in his account of his trawling cruise along the east coast says of Harengula antipoda:—“This herring was taken along the whole of the coast line explored, though it is improbable that it was trawled from the bottom, the specimens being more likely entrapped as the net was hauled to the surface. Hundreds were washed through the large meshes, all appearing to be dead, their delicate bodies being unable to withstand the pressure to which they were subjected. Most of the samples preserved were skimmed off the surface with a hand net.” Captain Bollons obtained the same species in Auckland Harbour.

In consequence of enquiries from Britain as to the possibility of obtaining brisling or sprats from this country, it was decided two years ago by the Board of the Portobello Marine Fish Hatchery to examine the position on the east coast of Otago. Special drift sprat-nets were obtained from Britain, and every week when the weather permitted, the launch went outside of Otago Heads in search of these elusive fish. In September, 1923, both species were taken in the seine-net inside the harbour; in July, 1924, sprats only were taken in the bag of a trawl on the bar; and in June, 1925, both species were found in abundance in the stomachs of red cod. Only