436 ORDER MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 



sal. The length of its head is one fifth of its total 

 length. 



Its anal has sixteen rays. 



These celebrated fishes set out every year in sum- 

 mer from the north seas, descend in autumn on the 

 western coasts of France in innumerable legions, or 

 rather in crowded banks of an incalculable extent, 

 they spawn upon the voyage, and arrive almost ex- 

 tenuated at the issue of the channel towards the 

 middle of winter. Entire fleets are occupied in their 

 fishery, which supports thousands of fishermen, of 

 salters, and of traders. The best are those which are 

 taken farthest north ; once arrived at the coasts of 

 Lower Normandy, they are empty, and their flesh is 

 dry and disagreeable. 



Clupea sprattus, Bl. 29. 2. (the sprat) ; has the pro- 

 portions of the herring, but is much smaller. Its oper- 

 cula are not veined ; a golden band is seen along its 

 flanks in the spawning season. It is salted in the north 1 . 



Clupea latulus, C, Schonefeldt, p. 41. (the white 

 bait) ; has the body more compressed, and the belly 

 more trenchant than the herring. Its height and 

 the length of its head are each a quarter of the total 

 length. Its dorsal is more advanced ; its anal longer, 

 and approaching more to the caudal. It is a very 

 small fish of the finest silvery colour, with a small 

 black spot in the end of the muzzle 2 . 



1 Artedi and his successors have confounded the sprat with the 

 sardine. 



2 Species approximating in form to the white bait : the Cailleu, 



