SPRAT. 



197 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGIL 



CLUPEIDJE. 



THE SPRAT. 



OARVIE HERRING AND GARVIE. Scotland. 



Clupeu sprattus, LINNKUS. BLOCH, pt. i. pi. 29, fig. 2. 



,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 318. 



,, ,, Sprat, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 457. 



,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 435. 



WILLUGHBY and Ray, deceived apparently by the mis- 

 application of the name by the fishermen of Cornwall, with 

 which the latter became acquainted during his journey in 

 that country, considered that the word Sprat was only a 

 name for the young of the Herring and of the Pilchard, and 

 others have been misled by their authority : but so well is 

 this fish distinguished from both by the strongly serrated 

 edge of the abdomen, that there is not a fisherman round 

 those parts of our coast where the Sprat is taken that cannot 

 immediately distinguish it from either, even in the midst of 

 the darkest night. Its characters being now sufficiently 

 appreciated, it is by some, and ought to be by all, admitted 

 as a good and distinct species. 



Though a much less valuable fish than the Herring, it 

 is still a very useful one. Coming into the market in im- 



