Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

Nov. 25. Notwithstanding the immense number which compose that astonishing shoal of herring which annually, in the month of June, comes from the North Sea, and in its passage visits these kingdoms, a bulk which is supposed to exceed the size of Great Britain and Ireland, yet the fecundity of this fish is not nearly so great as that of several other kinds--Mr. Harmer in his accurate tables has instanced the increase of the herring in the following manner:--A herring, caught the 25th of October, weighed five ounces ten penny weight; the weight of the spawn was 480 grains, and the number of eggs thirty six thousand nine hundred & sixty. But a cod fish, which was taken the 23d of December contained a spawn, the weight of which was 12540 grains, and the number of its eggs was three millions, six hundred and eighty six thousand, seventy hundred and sixty. The fecundity of the flounder he had also shewn to be nearly one million and a half. The weights Mr. Harmer used were avoirdupois, and he reckoned 4871/2 grains to an ounce.