CATALOGUE OF VERTEBRATES. 683 



band of scales along the back. Dorsal rays, 15; length, 18 

 inches. Cape Cod to tropics, in all oceans. Not of great food 

 value, but beautiful and gamey. 



Family ELOPIDJE. 



Big-eyed Herrings. 



Mouth large ; teeth all pointed ; body with cycloid scales ; mouth 

 broad, with lower jaw prominent ; branchiostegals twenty to thirty- 

 five; dorsal little behind ventrals. 



SLOPS, L. 

 B. eaurus, L. Big-eyed Herring. 



Body elongate, covered with thin, small, silvery scales ; dorsal 

 fin depressible into a sheath of scales ; anal smaller and also 

 depressible. Dorsal rays, 20 ; length, 24 inches. Not rare on 

 Atlantic coast. J. & G. 



"This is a rare fish along our coast, and only straggling 

 specimens are met with. De Kay reports but a single specimen 

 having been seen by him, which was taken in the harbor of 

 New York." [C. C. A.] 



MEGALOPS, Lac. 

 M. atlanticus, Cuv. & Val. Tarpura. Jewfish. 



Dorsal behind ventrals ; anal fin larger than dorsal ; scales 

 large, except on belly ; anal .with sheath of scales ; uniform 

 silvery; back darker. Dorsal rays, 12; anal rays, 20. Atlantic 

 Ocean, entering fresh water. Common southward. Extra- 

 limital to New Jersey fauna. 



Family CLUPZID-ffi. 



Herrings. 



No lateral line ; body more or less compressed ; head naked ; 

 jaws equal; maxillaries in three pieces on each side; teeth feeble; 

 pseudobranchife present ; anal fin long ; caudal forked. 



