CLUPEA. 163 



preparation of that list, the late Rev. Dr Cutler 

 was consulted, and we believe Professor Peck, al- 

 so. The specific names of three of the genus 



THE ALEWIFE. 



clupea, are inserted in a different character from 

 those, whose specific names had been previously 

 established : Serrata is one of the new names. 

 The common name is so universal, and of such 

 long standing, that the usual adjunct, "so called," 

 may well be omitted. " It is derived, probably, 

 from Alosa, the specific name of its congener, the 

 shad." 



" I have been led to think that the term ale- 

 wife, applied to this fish, was framed by our an- 

 cestors, — having reference to the shad ; espe- 

 cially as the Plymouth Pilgrims had heard of it 

 in Holland, and by the old English term, oldwife. 

 It is, I believe, a fish peculiar to our country : the 

 streams in and about Plymouth, are full of them, 

 in their season." 



There is no inlet of fresh water, to the sea, vis- 



