953 



Genis CLUPEA. 



Mouth of modernfc size (in comparison with that of the Anchovies small), the Icnr/th of the maxillaries beiiirj less than 



half (in Sca)i(]i)i((via)i forms 40 — 4<S ?*) of that of the head. Tip of the hirer jaa- projecting to a greater or less 



extent bei/ond that of the siioal. Dentition of the month feeble, more or less radimentarij. Anal Hn not much 



loiificr {less than tirice as long) or eren shorter than the dorsal: its rai/s less than oO. 



Tlie greater number of tlic ("lupeoids belong to the 1 ferent siieehncns, cNcn cif the same species, the bones 



orenus of the trnc Herrings; and the nnmber of species" | which ai'c furnislied with teeth in one specimen being 



contained therein is great enougli to have occasioned I toothless in another". But the Shads — whose dentition 



several attempts to divide it into subgenera. Valex- is as a rule the feeblest — differ so greatly in other re- 



CIEXXES even distributed its members among several S[)ects as well from the n^maining Herrings that tiiey 



genera'', whicli he based ])rincipally on the differences may with reason be jilaced in a separate subgenus 



in the dentition. But Nilsson arrived long ago "at the j bearing the name of Alosa. 

 conclusion'' that the teeth are highly variable in dif- 



SUBGENUS CLUPEA. 



Bodij n'ifhoiit spots. Loirer anterior portion of the ontrr surface of the operculum smooth {without gronres). 

 Dorsal f'n set so far back that the distance between it and the tip of the snout is more than 4 times the post- 

 orbital length of the head. No large scales of singular form on the caudal fin. 



Of this subgenus tlie Scandinavian fauna possesses 

 only two species, the Herring and the Sprat, both of 

 great economical importance, and so like each other 

 that only a practised eye can distinguish between them, 

 where the}' (jccur, as thej' often do, in company. In 

 modern times the most painstaking student of their va- 

 I'ieties has been the eminent German naturalist. Pro- 

 fessor F. Heixcke, who has come to tlie conclusion'' 

 that the difference between them is onlj" gradual, in the 



sense that the Herring exhibits races differing from one 

 another in the same manner as, but to a less degree 

 than, the two species. We have above seen the same 

 relation obtain between the Salmons and Charrs, and 

 in tlie present instance too we find that the smaller 

 species attains its yilace in the form-series of the genus 

 more rapidly (at a smaller relative size) and more fully 

 (with more pnnuinent characters). The larger of tli(; 

 two species is the ■well-known fish. 



" About 110 species have been described. 



' Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. XX, pp. U, cett. 



' Slcand. Fita, Fisk., p. 489. 



'' Die Varietaten des Herings, 11. p. .')G (VII Ber. Coinin. Unlers. deutscli. M.). 



