THE HERRING AND ITS ALLIES. 409 



of Anchovy. At San Francisco it is occasionally brought into the market. 

 Some attempts have been made to pickle them with spices for the trade, 

 but this amounts to little as yet. A great many are salted by the Chinese, 

 who use them as bait for the flounders and rock-fish. Two other species 

 of Anchovies, Stolephortis comprcssus and Stolephorus delicatissimus 

 abound south of Point Concepcion. They have no economic value." 



The family Dorosomatidcz is represented on our Atlantic coast by a 

 single species, the "Mud-Shad," Dorosoma Cepedianum, which is abund- 

 ant in brackish waters along the coast from Delaware Bay southward to 

 Mexico. In the Chesapeake region it is known as the "Mud-Shad," 

 "Winter-Shad," or " Stink Shad;" in North Carolina as the "Hairy- 

 back " or the "Thread Herring ;" in the St. John's River as the " Giz- 

 zard Shad," "Stink Shad," or "White-eyed Shad." 



The names " Gizzard Shad " or "Hickory Shad " refer to the peculiar 

 muscular stomach, which is of about the size of a hickory-nut and is 

 shaped like the gizzard of a fowl. The fish is found in brackish waters, 

 or in the sea, for the whole length of our coast. It enters all streams after 

 becoming land-locked in ponds, and throughout the whole Mississippi 

 Valley it is permanently resident in large numbers in the larger streams 

 and reservoirs. Since the construction of the canals it has appeared in 

 force in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. 



This fish is extremely abundant in many localities, particularly in the 

 St. John's River, Florida, where it becomes an annoyance to the fishermen 

 by getting into their nets, several hundred bushels being sometimes taken 

 in a shad net. They are also sometimes annoying to fishermen using gill- 

 nets for catching mullet. In the Potomac they are abundant and attain a 

 maximum size and weight. Their flesh is coarse and not delicate in flavor, 

 but they are by no means unpalatable, and on the tributaries of the Chesa- 

 peake they are extensively eaten by the negroes. In the St. John's River 

 they are made into guano. A factory for this purpose was in existence in 

 1874 at Black Point, above Palatka. They breed in summer, and are sup- 

 posed to feed, like the Menhaden, to a great extent upon the bottom mud. 



In the Great Lake regions the Gizzard Shad is sometimes split and 

 salted as "Lake Shad," but it probably meets with little sale, owing to 

 the inferior quality of the flesh and the presence of the vast number of 

 small bones that make up the skeleton. It is usually thrown away by the 

 fishermen, and when brought to market it is only bought by the poor or 

 the ignorant. It is not infrequently seen in the markets of Washington in 



