96 



CLUPEIB.E. 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOFTERYGII. 



CLVPEID^.* 



THE PILCHARD. 



GIPSEY HERRING. Scotland. 



CInpea pilcliardus, Bloch, pt. xii. pi. 406. 



WiLLUGHBY, p. 223, tab. P. 1. fig. 1. 

 CuviER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 319. 

 Pilchard, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 453, pi. 79. 

 Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 69. 

 pilcardui, ,, Flem. Brit. An. p. 183, sp, 52. 



Generic Characters. — Body compressed ; scales large, thin, and deciduous ; 

 head compressed ; teeth minute, or wanting ; a single dorsal fin ; abdominal 

 line forming a sharp keel-like edge, which in some species is serrated , 

 branchiostegous rays 8. 



The following account of the Pilchard is derived from the 

 MS. of Mr. Couch, from whose various scientific acquire- 

 ments, habits of observation and locality, it may be fairly 

 inferred that no better authority could be quoted. 



The older naturalists considered the Pilchard, like the 

 Herring, as a visiter from a distant region ; and they as- 

 signed to it also the same place of resort as that fish, with 



* Tlie family of the Herrings. 



