394 



AMERICAN EI SHE S. 



of their characters were first published in the report of the Virginia Fish 

 Commission for 1879. These species may easily be distinguished from 

 each other by the following characters: C aestivalis is more elongate in 

 form, has a lower body, less elevated fins, and smaller eyes than C. vernalis. 

 The proportions of the bones of the head in C. aestivalis differ from those 

 in C. vernalis, as also does the coloration of the lining of the abdomen, 

 which in C aestivalis is black and in C. vernalis, gray. 



The popular names applied to these fishes differ in almost every river 

 along the coast. C. vernalis is known along the Potomac River as the 

 " Branch Herring"; on the Albemarle River as the " Big-eyed Herring" 

 and the " Wall-eyed Herring"; in Canada it is known as the " Gaspe- 

 reau " or " Gasperot." It is pre-eminently the " Alewife " of New Eng- 

 land ; the " Ellwife " or " Ellwhop " of the Connecticut River. The 

 other species, C. aestivalis, undoubtedly occurs occasionally in its com- 

 pany, but is probably not common in the Connecticut and Housatonic 

 Rivers, and in many parts of Massachusetts is distinguished by another 

 name. 



The C aestivalis is the "Glut Herring" of the Albemarle and the 

 Chesapeake, and the "English Herring" of the Ogeechee River. In the 

 St. John's River, Florida, it is known simply as the " Herring." On the 

 coast of Massachusetts it is called the "Blue-back," a name which is 

 common to the late runs of the same species of the Rappahannock. Around 

 the Gulf of Maine this species is also known by the names " Kyack " or 

 "Kyauk," "Saw-belly," and "Cat-thrasher." Although the coast fisher- 

 men of Massachusetts and Maine claim to distinguish the two species, the 

 " Blue-backs" and the " Alewives," their judgment is by no means in- 

 fallible, for I have frequently had them sort out into two piles the fishes 

 which they distinguish under these names, and found that their discrimi- 

 nation was not at all reliable. The features to which they mainly trusted 

 in the determination of C. aestivalis are the bluer color of the back and the 

 greater serration upon the ventral-ridge. The other species, when the 

 scales on its back are rubbed off, is as blue as this, and the serration of the 

 belly is dependent entirely upon the extent to which the back has become 

 stiffened in the death struggle and the consequent degree of arching of the 

 ventral ridge. The young of one or both species are sold in the Boston 

 markets under the name " Sprats," and in New York they makeup a large 

 proportion of the so-called "Whitebait." 



