258 NEW- YORK FAUNA. 



THE AMERICAN ALEWIVE. 



Alosa tyiunnus. 

 plate xiii. fig. 38. 



Clupea tyranmis, Bay Alcwifc. Latrobf, Am. Phil. Soc. Trans. Vol. 5, p. 77, pi. 1. 

 C. vernalis. Mitchii.l, Report, p. 22. Id. Tr;ms. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 454. 

 Alosa vernaHs, Spring Herring or Alewioe. Storer, Massachusetts Report, p. 114. 



Characteristics. Indistinct longitudinal lines on the sides. A dark spot on the shoulder. 

 Pectorals without an accessory plate. Anal nearly even. Length eight 

 to ten inches. 



Description. Body elongate, strongly compressed. Length of the head, to the total length, 

 as one to six. Depth of the body at the dorsal fin, to the total length, as one lo four. Scales 

 very large and deciduous. Lateral line indistinct. Abdomen strongly serrated, more especially 

 behind the ventrals. Head small, flattened between the eyes. Mouth very protractile ; the 

 gape opening upwards, with the upper jaw notched in the centre ; labials slightly roughened. 

 Eyes large, two diameters from the end of the nose. Nostrils simple, near the edge of the 

 upper jaw. Tongue long, thin and smooth. Branchial arches angular, with long filaments 

 on the first arch ; smaller on the others. Branchial rays seven. Dorsal fin quadrangular, 

 slightly longer than high ; the first and second rays short ; the third longest, the margin slightly 

 concave. (In Latrobe's figure, the dorsal is omitted.) Pectorals long, subacute, and without 

 an accessory plate. Ventrals small, with a feeble and indistinct scale on its outer side. Anal 

 low, with subequal rays. Caudal forked. Creca numerous. One which I examined, had its 

 stomach filled with shrimps. 



Color. Back blue-green, approaching to purple ; sides silvery. From four to six indistinct 

 dusky lines along the sides. Head dark green above, and the tip of the lower jaw of the same 

 color. Opercles yellow. 



Length, 8-0-10-0. 



Fin rays, D. 17 ; P. 15 ; V. 9 ; A. 18 ; C. 21 f. 



We do not adopt the first name proposed by Peck (serrata) in Belknap's History of New- 

 Hampshire, as it is a mere name without any specific character, or clue to its identity. La- 

 trobe's name, although absurd and unmeaning, must, however, be retained. 



The Alewive appears in great quantities in the Chesapeake, from March to May. In our 

 waters, they appear with the shad about the first of April, but are never sufficiently numerous 

 to form a separate fishery. On the coast of Massachusetts, they again appear to be numerous. 

 According to Dr. Storer, five thousand barrels were cured on that coast in the year 1836. 



