Solea Pegusa. 467 



racters of the Pilchard (Clupea Pilcardus,) the follow' sentences occur: 

 *' The fry of ihe Herring and Pilchard are confoundea together under the 

 " epithet Sprat, The position of the dorsal fin, in reference to gravity, 

 " furnishes, however, an obvious mark of distinction." The differences 

 already detailed as existing in the anatomy and habits of Whitebait and 

 Shads render any further observations on that subject unnecessary, while 

 between the Sprat and Herring the distinctions are still more decided. 

 On comparing a Sprat with a young Herring of the same length, at 

 which age they are called by the fishermen Yawlings, the Sprat will be 

 found to be considerably deeper, and the scales much larger ; in this lat- 

 ter circumstemce the Sprat resembles the Pilchard, but the Pilchard on 

 the other hand is not so deep a fish as the Herring. The Sprat and Her- 

 ring differ also in the number of rays in three of their fins out of the four 

 they possess, and also in the tail, as the following numbers exhibit. 



D. P. V. A. C. 



Sprat 17 15 7 18 19 



Herring 17 14 9 14 20 



There is also one other most material difference, the vertebrae in the 

 Sprat are 48 in number, in the Herring there are 56, as I have ascer- 

 tained upon many examples of both species. 



The number of vertebrae in the Whitebait and Herring being the same 

 might suggest the idea that the Whitebait were young Herrings, but the 

 economy of the species prevents this conclusion. The Whitebait are un- 

 known on the shores of our various Northern Islands, where the Herrings 

 in myriads deposit their spawn ; and on the other hand, the Thames pro- 

 duces Whitebait in abundance during the summer, remaining with us till 

 August, when the Herrings are heavy with roe which they do not deposit 

 till October. 



SoLEA Pegusa. 



During a short visit to Brighton the last week of February I 

 obtained a single specimen of a Sole which it occurred to me had not 

 been admitted into any British Fauna, and further search on my 



II 2 



