416 CLXTPEIDiE. 



Vounr/. 



"VSTiitebait. 



"White-bait, Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 371, pi. 09. no. 176, or edit. 



1812, iii. p. 465, pi. 80; Couch, Fish. Brit. M. iv. p. 114, pi. 203 



(bad). 

 Cyprinus esca, Walh. Artedi, iii. p. 36 ; Bl. Schn. p. 440. 

 Clupea latulus, Cuv. Beyne Anim. 

 alba, Yarrell, in Zool. Journ. iv. pp. 137, 405, pi. 5. fig. 2; Brit. 



Fish. 2ncl edit. ii. p. 202, or 3rd edit. i. p. 121 ; Jimi/ns, Man. p. 436; 



Parnell, Werner. Mem. vii. p. 325, tab. 35 ; or Fish. Firth of Forth, 



p. 165, tab. 35. 

 Eoffenia (!) alba, Cuv. 8f Val. xx. p. 341, pi. 698. 



Synonymy for American specimens. 

 Clupea barengus, Fabric. Farm. Groonland. p. 182 ; Mitch. Amei\ 



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



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

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



Storer. Beport Fish. Mass. p. Ill ; Dekay, New York Fauna, Fish. 



p. 250 ; Cuv. ^ Val. xx. p. 247 ; Storer, Me7n. Am. Ac. vi. p. 330, 



pi. 26. fig. 1. 

 ? Clupea minima, (Peck) Storer, I. c. p. 113 ; Cuv. 8f Val. xx. pi. 259 



(Pyoung). 



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

 Caec. pylor. 18-23. Vert. 56. 



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

 Lower jaw prominent ; the maxillary 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. Gill- 

 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 

 striae. 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 Nilsson, Skand. Faun. Fisk. p. 489. As regards 

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

 science by Yarrell and Valenciennes in deference to the opinion of 

 fishermen and gourmands. The pterygoid teeth on which the genus 

 Rogen{a{\) 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 ; Februarj'. Presented by G. Busk, 



Esq. " Whitebait.'' 



