5. CLUPEA. 413 



of small size. Upper jaw not projecting beyond the lower. Cleft 

 of tlie mouth of moderate width ; teeth, if present, rudimentary and 

 deciduous. Anal fin of moderate extent, with less than thirty rays ; 

 dorsal fin opposite to the ventrais. Caudal forked. 



Inhabitants of the coasts of every part of the globe ;* many species 

 entering fresh waters. 



No more unfortunate method could be adopted for the systematic 

 arrangement of a group of animals than one based exclusively on 

 differences in an organ which has become rudimentary in that group, 

 and consequently subject to even individual variations. The number 

 of toes in Saurians, the presence of certain fins, of barbels, &c. in 

 fishes, are characters fit for generic distinction whilst those organs 

 are normally developed ; but they cease to have that significance 

 when those organs are rudimental, as in many Scincoid, Siluroid, 

 and Cyprinoid forms. In Cuvier's genus Clupea the dentition is 

 rudimental ; the teeth in the jaws are more or less completely lost 

 in a number of individuals, either by accident or by age ; those on 

 the tongue, if present, are a more constant part of the dentition ; 

 yet there are numerous species in which the lingual teeth are few in 

 number and as readily lost as those in the jaws. Nearly the same 



13. Clupea quadrimaculata, Biipp. N. W. Fische, p. 78, taf. 21. fig. 3; 

 Harengula bipunctata, Cnv. ^ Val. xx. p. 298 ; ? Hareugula ai-abica, 

 Cuv. 8( Val. XX. p. 298.— Red Sea. 



14. Harengula abbreviata, Cuv. Sf Val. xx. p. 296. — New Holland. 



15. Meletta obtusirostris, Cuv. S( Val. xx. p. 375. — Seychelles. 



16. Alausa .carulea, Cuv. S( Val. xx p. 432 ; Gaj/, Chile, Zool. ii. p. 323. — 



Chile. 



17. argyrochloris, Cuv. Sf Val. xx. p. 440. — Indian Ocean. 



18. Clupea mauritiana, Benn. Proc. Zool. Soc. i. p. 32. — Mauritius. 



19. ovalis, Benn. in Mem. Baffles, p. 690. — Sumatra. — "D. 18. A. 17. 



Clup. corpore ovali: pinna dorsali media, antice elevata; macula 

 humerali nigra." 



20. Alausa teres, Cuv. 8c Val. xx. p. 423 (not Df^-ay).— Philadelphia. 



21. Harengula spilurus, Guichenot, in MaiUard, Be de la Bhinion, Toiss. 



p. 16. — Bourbon. — D. 17. A. 19. The height of the body i.« equal to 

 the length of the head, which is one-fourth of the total (with the 

 caudal). 



22. Clupea inermis, Basil. Nouv. MSm. Soc. Xat. Mosc. x. 1855, p. 242. — 

 North China. — Abdomine non dentato ; dorsalis abdominalium primo 

 radio opposita ; analis elongata ; lingua aspera. 



23. Clupeonia fasciata, Cuv. ^- Val. xx. p. 349. — Bourbon. 



24. Clupea fuegensis, Jenyns, Voy. Beagle, Fish. p. 134. — Tierra del Fuego. 

 — I have examined the typical example, wh'ch is preserved in the 

 Museum of the University of Cambridge. It has lost all its scales, 

 and is evidently a young fish, which ought not to have been made the 

 type of a species. The dentition is by no means that of the Herring 

 as Jenyns states ; it has no trace of teeth on the palate, and certainly 

 never had any on the vomer ; there is, perhaps, a longitudinal series 

 on the tongue. This fish cannot be admitted into the system before its 

 characters are better known from fresh examples obtained in the same 

 seas. 



25. Harengula jaguana, Poey, Bepert. Fis.-naf. Cub. 1865, p. 189. — South 



coast of Cuba. 



26. Alausa striata, Cuv. S( Val. xx. p. 429. — Guadeloupe. 



