the head is in a straighter line from the back.
The full-grown sprat is a broader and rounder
fish than the young herring of the same length,
and of course the young herring has not a milt
or roe which the sprat has in the spawning
season.

The French zoologists, Cuvier and
Valenciennes, describe thirty-three kinds of sprats,
and two kinds of sprattelles, the dwarf sprattelle
and the fringed sprattelle; and two-aud-twenty
species of anchovies.

The fringed sprattelle renders similar services
on the coasts of Malabar to those rendered to
mankind by the sardine in Europe and the lamp-
fish in Columbia. The form of this little sprat
is elegant. It looks like a lengthened ellipse. Its
teeth are extremely small, and can scarcely be
felt on the lower jaw. The colour of the fringed
sprattelle is greenish with golden sparkles;
and the sides, belly, aud opercules are silvery
with iris and nacrous gleams. The Malabar
sardine is very good eating, tasting very like
the Gascony sardine, the Indian species being,
however, less fat than the European. During
the north-east monsoon this sprat is very
abundant upon the coast of Malabar. A
poor Indian can then buy, for a halfpenny,
enough, mixed with a little rice, to feed a whole
family. The Indians, however, do not know how
to preserve their sardines in the European way.
They do not even know how to prepare them
properly for eating by squeezing out the excess
of oil. Probably all kinds of sprats, if prepared
as the Red Indians prepare the Salmo pacificus
of Richardson, could be burnt as candle-fish.*
* See page 199 of the present volume.

Few gourmands have ever seen a whole
anchovy. The anchovy of commerce is a decapitated
fish. French women are particularly
dexterous in cutting off the heads of the
anchovies with the nails of their right thumb.
This practice, says M. Valenciennes, must be
very ancient, for the name encrasicholas—
the gall in the head—has been imposed on
this fish, because the liver was torn away
with the head. The preparations of this fish
must also be very ancient, for it entered into
the composition of certain relishes which were
highly esteemed by the Greeks. A considerable
anchovy fishery is carried on along the
coasts of the islands of Elba and Corsica.
Most boats employed in this fishery carry
lanterns.

The sprat, even more than the herring, is
perhaps of all others the fish in the preparation
and conservation of which the greatest
ingenuity has been dis-played. Prior to the
discovery of the art of making salt, fresh herrings
were cut open and cleaned, dipped in sea-water
repeatedly, and then exposed to the air. This
process does not succeed easily in the hot
weather of summer, but in winter Mr. Mitchell,
who has tried the experiment, assures us fresh
herrings acquire a firmness which renders them
fit for keeping for a considerable length of
time. The nimbleness of the fingers of women
in cleaning herrings, sprats, and anchovies, has
excited the astonishment of observers in all
ages and climes. The Londoner out for his
holiday, or, as he expresses it, having his
"out," if he happens to stay a day or two at
Wick and there discover how large and weighty
and delicious a herring may be, goes to the
troughs and there sees some sixty or seventy
young women in strange canvas jackets, all
busy and silent! They perform the cleaning
operation so swiftly that the eye cannot follow
the movements of their fingers. A damsel, as
good natured as good looking, in spite of a
repulsive attire and occupation, by doing the
thing slowly, may show how it is done by two
skilful movements of her knife. Mr. C. R.
Weld, who timed these women, found that they
cleaned, on an average, twenty-six per minute!
The processes with sprats, sprattelles, and anchovies,
from the smallness of the fish, though
often dispensed with, must task still greater
dexterity. The nimbleness of fair fingers upon
the piano receives applause from well-gloved
hands, and the dexterity of the sister fingers
which prepare wholesome food at least equally
merits admiration. The Emperor Charles the
Fifth erected a splendid monument to the
memory of Beukel, the Dutchman, who
discovered the art of conserving herrings; but the
name of the discoverer of the art of conserving
sardines in oil is at present unknown to general
fame, because perhaps he is still alive. According
to De Witt, every fifth person in Holland
was in his time engaged in the herring trade,
and the Dutch still have a proverb which says,
"When herrings come in, doctors go out."

I copy from Mr. J. M. Mitchell's work on the
Herring, its Natural History and National
Importance, his description of the French mode of
curing sardines or sprats in oil: "We now
come to the second and more delicate mode of
preparation—the curing the sprats in tin boxes
with oil—a mode which furnishes a delicious and
wholesome food, suitable for transportation to
any climate. The sprats are carefully washed
in the sea, and then carried to the curing-place,
where they are slightly sprinkled with pure fine
white salt; after remaining thus a few hours,
women are employed to take off the head, which
brings away the gills, &c.; and after again well
washing they are laid out either on willow
branches or wire-work, and exposed to the sun
and wind, or to a current of air if under cover,
if the weather is damp or rainy. This drying
gives clearness and pureness to the skin. They
are then put into boiling oil; after being the
requisite time in this oil, they are drained as
much as possible, and then put into tin boxes.
When the boxes are filled, they are carried to
tables prepared for the purpose and covered
with oil; the tinsmith then takes the boxes and
solders on the cover; the boxes are then placed
in the boiler, or exposed to hot steam, to undergo
the process of ebullition for such time as the
curer considers necessary. After being taken
out, the boxes are examined, and those rejected
which, have leaked, or not resisted the pressure