630 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxi. 



Gill openintr laro-e, the iiioinl)rane.s free; gill rakers very fine and 

 slender; gill filaments about two-thirds as long as gill rakers; pseudo- 

 branchia3 numerous. Peritoneum dusky. 



Scales large, cycloid, deciduous; no lateral line; no yentral scutes 

 or serrated scales. 



Dorsal small, its origin slightly nearer tip of snout than base of 

 caudal; anal low, very small, very far back; distance from its origin 

 to that of caudal about one-fifth of length without caudal fin; caudal 

 small, deeply emarginate; ventrals small, their origin beneath middle 

 of dorsal; pectorals inserted at lower posterior angle of opercle. 



Color, uniform pale brown bluish in life, with abroad lateral silvery 

 band, this bordered with a narrow dusky band above; a narrow median 

 dorsal dusky band from tip of snout to base of caudal. Fins colorless, 

 except dorsal and caudal; these marked by fine transverse dusky 

 lines. 



This beautiful little fish is conmion throughout southern Japan in 

 estuaries and sandy bays. We have man}- from Wakanoura. Naga- 

 saki, Heda in Izu (Capt. Alan Owston), and from the mouth of the 

 Yodo River, at Osaka. Specimens of Stolephoinis argi/rot^nm from 

 Negros Island in the Philippines seem to differ only in having no 

 dark streak along the upper edge of the lateral stripe, this streak 

 being conspicuous in all adult Japanese examples. 



(japonicus^ Japanese.) 



9. CLUPEA (Artedi) Linn^us. 



Clnpea (Artedi) Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1758, p. 317 {harengus). 

 Rogenia Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist., Nat. Poiss., XX, 1847, p. 340 {alba, 

 "the whitebait," the young of harengus). 



True herrings with the bod}" elongate, numerous vertebra, the ven- 

 tral serratures weak, and an ovate patch of small but persistent teeth 

 on the vomer. The few species belong to the northern seas, where the 

 number of individuals is inordinately great, exceeding perhaps those 

 of any other genus of fishes. Not anadromous, spawning in the sea. 



{clupea., herring). 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



a. Bellj'-serrate behind ventrals only; anal rays about 14 pallasii, 10 



lo. CLUPEA PALLASII Cuvier and Valenciennes. 

 NISHIN (HERRING). 



Clupea harengus var. Pall.\s, Zoogr. Rosso.-Asiat., Ill, 1811, p. 209 (Kamchatka). 

 Clupea pallasii Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., XX, 1847, p. 253 



(Kamchatka; based on Pallas's specimens). 

 Clupea mirahilis Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1854, p. 148 (San Francisco).— 



GtiNTHER, Cat., V^ll, 1868, p. 418. — Jordan and Gilbert, Svnopsis, 1883, p. 



265. 



