niSTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 283 



[From Storer's " History cf the Fishes of Massacbusette," 1867, p. 158.] 

 Alosa menhaden, Storer. The Menhaden. 

 (Plate XXVr, Fig. 4.) 



Clupea menhaden, Bouy-fish, Hard-beads, or Marsh-bankers of New York, Mitch., Trans. 



Lit. and PhiL Soc. of New York, 1, p. 453, pi. 5, fig. 7. 

 Alosa menhaden, Menhaden, Hard-bead, Stoker, Eeport, p. 117. 

 Alosa menhaden, Moss-bonker, Dekay, Report, p. 259, pi. 21, fig. GO. 

 Alosa menhaden, Ayers, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., iv, p. 275 ; Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., 



new series, 11, p. 459, 

 Alosa inenhaden, Storer, Synopsis, p. 207. 

 L'Alose menhaden, Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. des Pois., xx, p. 424. 



Color. — Upper i)art of body of a greenish-brown, darker upon the top 

 of the head and at the snout; upper part of the sides in the living fish 

 roseons and mottled with indistinct bluish oscillations, which disappear 

 in death ; abdomen silvery 5 gill-covers cupreous, with a rosy tint; space 

 in front of the eyes translucent; a black spot, more or less distinct, 

 upon the shoulders ; whole surface of the fish iridescent. 



Description. — Body elongated, compressed ; its depth across, at the 

 base of the pectorals, less th^n one-fifth the length of the fish ; length of 

 the head more than one-third the length of the fish ; gill-covers very 

 large; opercula, with numerous deeply marked striae, which commence 

 just beneath a large green blotch, situated some distance back of the 

 eye and on a line with ir, and pass obliquely backward and downward 

 to its lower edge; subopercula and interopercula smooth; preopercula 

 ])resenting an arborescent appearance of vessels upon their surface; 

 eyes circular, moderate in size, furnished with a nictitating membi^ane; 

 gape of mouth very large; lower jaw shorter than the upper; the mid- 

 dle of the upper jaw deeply emarginate j back slightly arched in front 

 of the dorsal fin. 



The dorsal fin commences upon the anterior half of the body; it is 

 nearly as long again as high, and is emarginated above ; at its base is 

 a membranous j)rolongation or sheath, by which it is almost entirely 

 covered when unexpanded. The first three rays of this fin are simple ; 

 the first articulated rays are higher than the remainder, the most posterior 

 higher than the eight or nine preceding. 



The pectorals are situated just beneath the posterior inferior angle 

 of the operculum ; the first three rays are the longest; the first ray is 

 simple. Outside of this fin is an axillary plate more than two-thirds 

 the length of the fin ; a broad scaly shield at the base of the pectorals 

 covers a portion of the inferior edge. 



The veutrals are very small and fan-shaped, their rays are multifid; 

 on each side of these fins is an axillary plate. 



The anal fin is shorter than the dorsal, low and slightly emarginated 

 above; its anterior rays are highest; the first ray is simple; it is 

 sheathed at its base like the dorsal. 



