FAMILY ATHERINIOE ATHERINA. 143 



Length five inches. 



Fin rays, D. 5.1.9; P. 15; V. 1.5; A. 1.25; C. 19. 



I am unacquainted with this species, and insert it on the authority of Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes, who received it from New- York. For the figure, I have been indebted to Dr. Hol- 

 brook. It appears to be widely different from the preceding, by the distance of the dorsals 

 apart ; by the position of the second dorsal, which is far from being coterminal with the anal ; 

 by the more deeply excavated or crescent-shaped caudal, and by other particulars cited 

 above. 



I make a reference to Peck with much doubt. " This little fish," he says, " is called by 

 " Linneus, Atherina menidia, pinna ani radiis 24. It is four inches long, is semitransparent, 

 " and has a broad silvery line extending from the opening of the gills to the insertion of the 

 " tail. The tail is forked ; the iris silvery ; the back is marked in diamonds by dotted lines. 

 " It is found in great numbers in the river Piscataqua, in the months of August and Septem- 

 " ber. It feeds on minute aquatic insects of the monoculus kind, and is preyed upon by 

 " various fishes as well as by shelldrakes." 



The Green Silverside, Atherina viridescens of Mitchill, is evidently to me a young and 

 mutilated specimen of this species. With regard to the Atherina mordax, or large Silverside 

 of the same author, there is more difficulty. From its dental armature and adipose dorsal, 

 it cannot be arranged in this family. In his Report in part, he states that " it may be A. 

 " brownii; if it be so considered, we shall know it better for the future." I am not acquainted 

 with the species here referred to, but have no doubt that the mordax is the true Osmerus of 

 the family Salmonidaj. I am disposed to believe that my late venerable friend has, by mis- 

 take, applied the description of Osmerus eperlanus to this species. 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



A. Carolina. (Cuv. et Val. Vol. 10, p. 445.) Snout pointed. Height to its total length, as one to 

 six and three-quarters. D. 8.1. 12; A. 1 . 16. Length four inches. South-Carolina. 



