686 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



late in February or early in March, according to the weather, 

 and until the end of the season allowed for catching them, they 

 are met with more or less abundantly, going up stream. Above 

 the Delaware Water Gap they are seldom plentifully met with. 



"Although not generally credited, the shad in May will take 

 the hook, if attractively baited with maple blossoms or insects. 

 The hook must be floated upon the surface of the water and 

 drawn slowly along. If the line is long, so that the boat the 

 angler is in does not scare them, the hook is pretty sure to be 

 seized if there be any shad ' passing up.' " [C. C. A.] 



The shad-catch from the Delaware is now worth nearly half 

 a million dollars annually. Since the government has begun 

 stocking the river, the increase in the run of shad has been 

 remarkable in spite of rockfish, which are thought to prey on 

 the young shad. J. N. 



OPI5THONBMA, GUI. 



(Clupea.) 



O. thrissa, Osbeck. Thread Herring. 



Bluish above, silvery below; an indistinct bluish shoulder 

 spot ; scales fixed ; each scale on back with a dark spot, forming 

 longitudinal lines ; body compressed, oblong ; belly serrate ; 

 tongue with email teeth ; lower jaw slightly projects ; dorsal in 

 front of middle, with a filament. Dorsal rays, 19; anal rays, 

 24 ; scutes, 1 7 -f- 14. Atlantic ; mostly southward. Sometimes 

 poisonous. 



" Never abundant, but appears annually along our coast in 

 September. Occasionally they enter Delaware Bay, but never 

 come to strictly fresh water." 



BREVOORTIA, Gill. 



(Clupea.) 



B. tyrannus, Latrobe (C. aurea). Menhaden. Mossbunker. Bony- 

 fish. Whitefish. Bugfish. Yellow-tail. Flat-back. 



Fins, head, &c., comparatively short ; dorsal a little behind 

 ventrals ; scales strongly serrated, arranged irregularly ; bluish 

 above ; sides silvery, with brassy luster ; fins yellowish ; a large 

 shoulder blotch, behind which are often smaller spots. Dorsal 



