PILCHARD. 181 



toral and ventral fins small, the latter commencing in a 

 line under the middle of the dorsal fin ; the axillary scales 

 very long : the anal fin commencing half-way between the 

 origin of the ventral fins and the end of the fleshy portion 

 of the tail ; the first ray short, the second and the last 

 two rays the longest: the tail deeply forked; the scales 

 at the end of the fleshy portion of the body extending far 

 over the bases of the caudal rays, particularly two elongated 

 scales above and below the middle line. The fin-rays in 

 number are 



D. 18 : P. 16 : V. 8 : A. 18 : C. 19. Vertebra 55. 



The mouth is small, without teeth, the under jaw the 

 longest : the breadth of the eye one-fourth of the length 

 of the head, and placed at rather more than its own breadth 

 from the point of the nose ; the irides yellowish white : the 

 cheeks and all the parts of the gill-covers tinged with golden 

 yellow, and marked with various radiating strise : the pos- 

 terior edge of the operculum nearly vertical and straight : the 

 upper part of the body bluish green ; the sides and belly 

 silvery white ; the dorsal fin and tail dusky. Mr. Couch 

 says the Pilchard is sometimes found with a row of spots on 

 the side, like the Shad ; which seems the result of disease, 

 these fish being small, soft, and unfit for curing. 



As an appropriate conclusion to this account of the Pil- 

 chard fishery of Cornwall, derived principally from the MS. 

 of Mr. Couch, the vignette at the bottom of the next page is 

 a representation of the harbour of Polperro, near which Mr. 

 Couch has long resided : and I take this opportunity of re- 

 cording my obligations to that gentleman, not only for his 

 great liberality in allowing me the unlimited use of his volu- 

 minous MS. of the Natural History of the Fishes which have 

 been found on the coasts and in the rivers of Cornwall, with 



