4° 4 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



ordinated to the impulse of reproduction (which brings them into the 

 river), is not wholly lost. 



A female Shad of a certain age is always larger than a male of corre- 

 sponding age. A general average for both sexes along the whole coast 

 would be about four pounds, the extremes — for males — being from one 

 and a half to six pounds, and for females from three and a half to eight 

 pounds, the latter representing a maximum weight for Shad at the present 

 time ; although, in the early history of the fisheries, there are records of 

 the capture of fish weighing eleven, twelve and as much as fourteen 



pounds 



\ 



w 



THE HICKORY SHAD. 



The Hickory Shad, or Mattowacca, Clupea mediocris, was first brought 

 to notice in 1S15 in Mitchill's paper on the fishes of New York, wherein 

 it was described under two names, being called the " Staten Island" 

 Herring, C. mediocris, and the "Long Island" Herring, C. mattowacca. 

 The latter name was adopted by Storer for the species, but more recent 

 authorities, guided by a rather questionable interpretation of the rules of 

 priority, have substituted the name C. mediocris, because it was printed on 

 the page preceding the other. Mitchill stated that the " Long Island " 

 Herring occupied a middle station between the Shad and the " Staten 

 Island " Herring, but it seems strange that so accomplished an ichthyolo- 

 gist should not have at once perceived the identity of the two. The name 

 •' mediocris" was founded upon small specimens. The names given this 

 species are as varied as those of the river Herrings. The name " Matto- 

 wacca" is of Indian origin, and is said to have been derived from the 

 Indian name for Long Island, Mattowaka or Mattowax. 



The name " Hickory Shad " is applied to this species on all parts of the 



