DPJFT-NET FISHING. 125 



eitlier in the number of fin-rays, the position of the 

 fins, the mnnber of vertebrce, or the arrangement in 

 certain groups of teeth, if present. If no distinction 

 can be found in these characters, then we venture to 

 think there will be no solid foundation for specifically 

 separating the one from the other. 



YarrelP and Couch ^ are the two last English 

 ichthyologists who have given independent figures and 

 descriptions of the whitebait ; and in a matter involving 

 the discrimination of a species from another which is 

 very well known, we might expect an agreement 

 between those authors on the points which they con- 

 sidered important. We will therefore compare the 

 number of fin-rays as given by Yarrell and Couch : — 



Whitebait (Ch'pea alba). 



In three out of the four fins mentioned by both 

 authors there is a difference in the number of rays ; and 

 we should not like to say that in any case they were 

 probably incorrectly counted ; although only eight ven- 

 tral rays, as given by Couch, is open to strong doubt. 



We will now compare these characters with the 

 corresponding ones in the herring, and will add the 

 number of fin-rays given by Giinther^ : — 



Herring {Clupea liarengus). 



^ British Fishes, 2nd edition, vol. ii., p. 207 (1841). 



'^ I'lshes of the British Islands, vol. iii., p. 114, pi. cciii. (1844). 



3 Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. vii., p. 416 (1868). 



