410 CLUPEIB.E. 



youn(^. 

 Whitebait. 

 White-bait, Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 371, pi. 69. no. 176, or edit. 



1812, iii. p. 465, pi. 80; Couch, FUh. Brit. Id. iv. p. 114, pi. 203 



(bad). 

 Cyprinus esca, TFalb. Artedi, iii. p. 36 ; Bl. Schn. p. 446. 

 Cliipea latulus, Ciiv. Reyne Anim. 

 alba, Yarrell, in Zool. Journ. iv. pp. 137, 465, pi. 5. fig. 2; Brit. 



Fish. 2nd edit. ii. p. 202, or 3rd edit. i. p. 121 ; Jenyns, Man. p. 436; 



Paniell, Werner. Mem. -vii. p. 325, tab. 35; ox Fish. Firth of Forth, 



p. 165, tab. 36. 

 Rogenia (!) alba, Cm. S,- Val. xx. p. 341, pi. 598. 



Synonymy for Americmi specimens. 



Clupea harengus, Fabric. Faun. Greenland, p. 182 ; Mitch. Amer. 



Month. Mag. ii. p. 323 ; Richards. Franklin's Journal, p. 716, and 



Faun. Bor.-Amer. iii. p. 229. 

 elongata, Lemeur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. i. p. 234 ; 



Storer, Report Fish. Mass. p. Ill ; Dekay, Neiv York Fauna, Fish. 



p. 250 ; Cuv. 8f Val. xx. p. 247 ; Storer, Mem. Am. Ac. vi. p. 330, 



pi. 26. fig. 1. 

 ? Clupea minima, {Peck) Storer, I. c. p. 113 ; Cuv. ^ Val. xx. pi. 259 



(Pyoung). 



B. 8. D. 17-20. A. 16-18. V. 9. L.lat. 53-59. 

 Cfec. pylor. 18-23. Vert. 56. 



The height of the body is nearly equal to the length of the head. 

 Lower jaw prominent ; the maxiUary extending nearly to below the 

 middle of the eye. An elongate ovate patch of very small teeth on 

 the tongue and vomer; palatine teeth, if present, minute. GiU- 

 rakers fine, closely set, about as long as the eye. Ventral fins in- 

 serted below the middle of the dorsal fin. There are thirteen 

 abdominal scutes behind the ventrals. Operculum without radiating 

 strise. No dark spot on the shoulder. 



North Atlantic ; northern coasts of Asia. 



The teeth on the palatine bones, like those of the jaws, are minute 

 and rudimental, and frequently entirely absent, especially in old 

 examples ; so that their presence or absence is not a character fit 

 for specific, and much less for generic, distinction, as has been 

 already observed by Nilssou, Skand. Faun. Fisk. p. 489. As regards 

 the " Whitebait," this is a purely nominal species, introduced into 

 science by YarreU and Valenciennes in deference to the opinion of 

 fishermen and gourmands. The pterygoid teeth on which the genus 

 Rogenia (\) was founded, are so minute, that I could find them in 

 two examples only ; and even there it was doubtful whether the as- 

 perities were real teeth. All the examples of Whitebait I have ex- 

 amined were young herrings. 



European examples. 

 a. Adult. Thames. Presented by W. B. Tegetmeier, Esq. Caught 



in December. 

 h. Five inches long. Thames ; February. Presented by G. Busk, 



Esq. " Whitebait." 



