REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 101 



ward limit of range on the American coast is Cape Hatteras, though 

 its numbers south of Cape Cod are so far diminished as to make its 

 capture in these waters of Uttle importance. At Eastport, Me., 

 the young are canned in oil and sold under the name of "sardines." 

 The true sardines, however, come only from France and are the young 

 of the "pilchard," another member of the herring family which does 

 not occur on our coast. 



The true herring never spawns in rivers, but in shoal water in 

 certain localities along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to 

 Block Island, when the water reaches temperatures between 47° and 

 57°F. Some schools spawn in the spring, others in the fall; but the 

 spring schools spawn almost exclusively to the east of the Bay of 

 Fundy, and the fall schools entirely to the west of that place. 



It is readily distinguished from the other members of the herring 

 family by the following points: Its body is long and slender, and 

 compressed; it has teeth on the roof of the mouth and no sharp saw- 

 tooth-like edge on the ridge of the belly; the distance from the pectoral 

 fins to the ventral fins is greater than the distance from the ventral 

 iins to the anal fin. 



The other three species of the herring family under consideration, 

 namely, the hickory shad (Plate VIII), the alewife (Plate IX), and 

 the glut herring (Plate X) , differ from the true herring and agree with 

 each other with regard to the following points: Their bodies are 

 not elongated, but are somewhat oval in shape; they have no teeth on 

 the roof of the mouth; they have a very sharp saw-tooth edge on the 

 ridge of the belly; and the distance between the pectoral fins and 

 ventral fins is about equal or less than the distance between the 

 ventral fins and the anal fin. This difference in distance between 

 the fins will be easily seen by reference to the plates. 



The hickory shad (Plate VIII) is distinguished from the alewife and 

 the glut -herring as follows : The form of its body is nearly oval and 

 less heavy forward than is the case with the two other species; its 

 head is longer and more slender; its lower jaw is also more projecting. 

 There is a row of large dark spots on the upper forward part of the 



