SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. §5 



Sub-class Teleostei. Atherinoid^. 



chovy'^ and " Young Smelt." It is taken in company with the 

 smelt and sold with them as such. It is from three to five inches 

 in length, and when first taken from the water quite semi-transpa- 

 rent, especially along the back. 



Characteristics. Body, slender ; dorsal fins some distance apai't, 

 the second one over the middle of the anal. 



Specific Characters. Head small, pupils somewhat straight above 

 and cnrved beneath, smooth on the top, greenish and covered with 

 small black spots ; upper jaw slightly the longest, and both jaws 

 well furnished with very small teeth ; mouth, when shut, a little 

 oblique, the angle being lower than the point of the lips, "mouth 

 protractile." Eyes black and slightly oval, iris silvery. 



Body slender, a little compressed, of a greenish color on the up- 

 per part, and " marked into diamonds by dotted lines." These 

 dotted lines also disappear on the edge of the scales of the upper 

 portion of the body. 



The lateral line is dark, commencing near the upper angle of the 

 operculum, extending parallel with the back. Beneath it, and 

 parallel to it, is a broad band of a bright silvery color starting at 

 the root of the pectorals to the tail. This is a very distinguishing 

 mark. Below this belt the body is of a higher color than above it. 

 It has two dorsals, the first arising about one inch back of the ex- 

 tremity of the pectorals, and is smaller than the second and of a 

 triangular shape. The second dorsal commences about one inch 

 back of the first. It is square or quad angular in shape, its last rays 

 being longest. 



Pectorals commence near the upper angle of the operculum and 

 cover a portion of the silvery band. The ventrals arise on a line 

 with the extremities of the pectorals. Anal commencing a little 

 back of a line of the beginning of the first dorsal and is the largest 

 fin of all. Caudal forked. All the fins have very delicate, colorless 

 semi-transparent membranes. 



Ray formula — 



Branchial 6 ; D. 5, 9 ; P. 12 ; V. 5 ; A. 25 ; C. 18. 



Prof. Gill has separated this species from the genus Atherina and 

 places it into ".Chirostoma," ( Ghriostoma notatum, Gill.) 



Stnonymes. — itherina menidia, Lacepede, 



L^atherine de Bosc. A. boscii, Cuv. et Val. 

 Chirostoma notatum, Gill. 



