102 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



/, as will be seen by reference to the illustration. The alewife and 

 glut herring both have short thick heads, and their bodies are heavier 

 forward. They are very similar to each other, and can best be 

 distinguished by cutting open the body cavity; the lining membrane 

 in case of the alewife is pale or gray in color, while it is black in the 

 case of the glut herring. The fins are lower, also, in the glut herring, 

 the eyes are smaller, and the body more elongated. 



Other names for the alewife (Plate IX) are the "river herring," 

 the "buckie," and the "branch herring." Both the alewife and the 

 glut herring run up the rivers in the spring to spawn like the shad. 

 The herring never does so, and the hickory shad probably does not. 

 The glut herring appears two or three weeks later than the alewife, 

 coming in great numbers all at once. This fact, because of its 

 "glutting" the markets, probably is the reason of its name. Its 

 run does not last as long as that of the alewife. It is supposed not 

 to go as far up the river, probably spawning not far above tide water. 



