90 ICHTHYOLOGIA OHIENSIS 



Greenish-gold above, silvery beneath; lateral line 

 straight : diameter two ninths of the length : dorsal 

 and anal fin trapezoidal and with 1 8 rays : tail brown 

 and forked. 



A fine fivSh from twelve to eighteen inches long. 

 Flesh esteemed, white and with less bones than the 

 shad. It is taken with the seine and harpoon, as it 

 seldom bites at the hook: it preys however on some 

 small fishes. It seldom goes as far as Pittsburgh, 

 and does not run up the creeks. At the falls it ap- 

 pears in March and April, and disappears in Septem- 

 ber. Its vulgar names are Ohio Shad, Gold Shad, 

 Green Herring, &c. 



It has the back convex, blue under the scales. 

 Sides, belly, and throat with purple and violet 

 shades. Top of the head and neck clouded with 

 browm. Several sutures on the sides of the head. 

 Upper lip truncate, flexuose, and even retuse; the 

 lower obtuse and brown at the end. Eyes black : 

 iris silvery and gilt. Opercule nearly trilobe, the 

 upper lobe covered by a large oboval and radiated 

 shield. Scales large deciduous, lateral line con- 

 cealed by them. Dorsal fin olivaceous, in the mid- 

 dle of the back, first and second ray shorter and 

 simple, the third long, the others gradually shorter. 

 Anal fin consimilar but whitish. Pectoral and ab- 

 dominal fins trapezoidal, the lowest ray simple and 

 the longest: pectoral 15 rays. Tail equal 32 rays, 

 brown, tip darker, equal, decurrent on each side, end 

 of the body truncate. 



XI. Genus. Gizzard. Dorosoma. Dorosome. 



Body lanceolate, compressed, scaly. Vent medial. 

 Abdomen carinated, serrated, and with broad trans- 



