242 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
For encouragement and assistance I am deeply indebted to Dr. Hugh 
M. Smith, assistant in charge of the Division of Scientific Inquiry, and 
Prof. Barton W. Evermann, ichthyologist of the United States Fish 
Commission, and particularly to Mr. B. A. Bean, assistant curator of 
fishes, United States National Museum, who rendered the Museum 
collections easily accessible and who was ever ready and willing to 
give any possible assistance. 
In the publication of these notes the main objects in view are— 
1. To call attention to an overlooked opportunity for a remunera- 
tive and comparatively inexpensive fishing industry and a neglected 
delicacy in the way of food-fish. 
2. To contribute something toward the knowledge of the relation- 
ship and natural history of these fishes. 
THE SILVERSIDES. 
The silversides belong to the family Atherinide and are repre- 
sented by three genera on the Atlantic coast of the United States: 
Atherina, Kirtlandia, and Menidia. The first of these is essentially 
West Indian, no species of it being positively known to occur farther 
north than Florida. It may be easily distinguished from the other 
genera by its less compressed form, the rounder body, and heavier head, 
flattened and wide ontop. A7rtlandia more closely resembles Menidia, 
in fact was until recently considered a member of that genus. It may 
be readily recognized, however, by its gashed or laciniated scales, 
those of Menidia being entire. The scales are also firmer and more 
glossy than in Menidia, which renders this form less desirable as food. 
Kirtlandia is found as far north as Long Island. In early summer it 
is very abundant in Chesapeake Bay. 
The genus Menzdia is the one with which this paper is particularly 
concerned. It comprises several species of small slender fishes bear- 
ing a broad silvery stripe along the sides, whence their name silver- 
sides. One or more species abound along the whole coast from Nova 
Scotia to Texas. In general appearance they resemble the smelt 
(Osmerus) and in some places are known as “‘sand smelt” and ‘‘green 
smelt,” and are sometimes mistaken for the young of the common 
smelt, from which they can easily be distinguished by the absence of 
the adipose fin of the smelt and the presence of a small spinous dorsal 
fin which the smelt does not possess. 
ABUNDANCE. 
In the south, silversides abound in the shore waters at all seasons. 
One form inhabits fresh water in Florida, occurring in the St. Johns 
River as far up, at least, as Lake Monroe; another fresh-water form 
occurs about Vicksburg and Edwards, Miss., and Natchez, Tenn. In 
more northern latitudes in the spring and early summer they appear 
