niSTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 17 



33. In Belknap's History of New Hampshire, this species is mentioned 

 under the name ^'- Clnpca dura Iwvi mystax (hardhead)."* Since no de- 

 scription is given, this name can have no signiiicauce. 



34. Mitchill's ''New Yorli Shadine" {Cliqica sadi7ia)f appears to be 

 identical with Brcvoortia tyranniis, as is indicated by the smutty oper- 

 cular spot, the wide and toothless mouth, and protruding gill apparatus. 

 The deciduous character of t' e scales may have been due to poor pres- 

 ervation of the type specimen. 



Gronow, in 1703, described the species under the name Cliipea Caro- 

 linensis,1f but his manuscript was not published until 1854, and his name 

 must yield precedence to those which are really much more recent. 



The Gulf Menhaden. 



35. A second North American species of menhaden has recently been 

 discovered. A description will be given in a subsequent paragraph (42). 

 This species has been reported only from the Gulf of Mexico. Tlie 

 name chosen for it has reference to the presence of a parasite which has 

 already been mentioned, and which was described by Latrobe as the 

 Oiiiscus prwgustator. This parasite is common to both Brevoortia tyran- 

 mis and Brevoortia patronus, the gulf form ; the specific name of the 

 latter has been selected to carry out the quaint conceit of Latrobe, who 

 fancied tbat the menhaden resembled a Eoman ruler in having a "taster" 

 who first tested every dish to prove its harmlessuess. 



The Menhaden of Brazil. 



36. The species described, from Brazil, by Agassiz and Spix, under the 

 name Clupanodon atircus^ does not appear to be distinctly separated 

 from Brevoortia tyrannus. No diagnostic characters can be detected in 

 the descrii)tions of either Agassiz or Giinther; that is to say, characters 

 which do not disappear upon the study of a large series of specimens. 

 Agassiz's specimens, collected probably at Bahia, and in 1829 preserved 

 in alcohol in the Munich Museum, were eight inches long. He himself 

 seems to have had an inkling of their identity with the North American 

 species, from the fact that he cites, doubtfully, as a synonym, Mitchill's 

 Cliipea menada. The difference in spelling this specific name is doubt- 

 less an attempt to put in Latin form the Indian name used by Mitchill.. 

 Two specimens from Sambaia, Brazil, and one from Eio Janeiro, col- 

 lected by the Thayer expedition, agree closely with the figure in Spix's 



* Belkuap'.s History of New Harupsbire, 2d ed., 1813, III, p. 133. 



t Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, N. Y., 1814, pp. 457, 45S. 



t Catalogue of Fish, collected and described by Lawrence Theodore Gronow, now in. 

 tbe British Museum. Published by order of the Trustees, London, 1654, i^]}. 140. 



^ Selecta | Genera et Species | Piscum | quos | in Itinere iier Brasiliam | Aunia 

 MDCCCXVII-MUCCCXX | » * * | collegit, et pingeudos curavit | Dr. J. B. de 

 Spix, 1***1 digessit, descripsit, et observaticuis anatomicis illustruvit | Dr. L. 

 Agassiz, 1***1 Jlonachii, | Typia C. Wolf | = | 1629, p. 52. 

 1' F 



