282 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



[From "The Fislies of New York, described and arranged," by Samuel L. Mitchill, in 

 Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, 1815, p. 453.] 



Bony-fish, hard-heads, or marshbankers, of New York. 



{Clupea menhaden.) 



About fourteen inches long, frequent the New York waters in pro- 

 digious numbers. From the high banks of Montock, I have seen acres 

 of them purpling the water of the Atlantic Ocean. The waters of Long 

 Island Sound and its bay are often alive with shoals of them. They are 

 eatable; but as they are too abundant for consumption as food, and as 

 there are multitudes of preferable fish, menhaden are often left to putrefy 

 on the shore or are removed to the fields for manure. 



The history of this fish has been written by Mr. B. H. Latrobe, and 

 published with a figure, in the Philosophical Transactions of Philadel- 

 phia, Vol. V. And the manner of converting him to an ingredient for 

 fertilizing land has been explained by Ezra L'Hommedieu, esq., in the 

 Agricultural Transactions of New York, Vol. I., p. 65. The aborigines 

 called him menhaden. The whalemen say he is the favorite food of the 

 great bone- whale or Balsena mysticetus. This creature, opening its mouth 

 amidst a shoal of menhaden, receives into its cavity the amount of some 

 hogsheads of menhaden at a gulp. These pass, one by one, head foremost 

 down his narrow gullet ; and eye-witnesses have assured me that on 

 cutting up whales after death, great quantities of menhaden had been 

 discovered thus regularly disposed in the stomach and intestines. 



Gill-cover very large. One blackish spot on the neck near it. Head 

 and back greenish-brown, with a few marks of brighter green on the 

 head. Belly and sides considerably iridescent. Back arched, rounded, 

 and thick ; tail forked ; belly serrated ; mouth and tongue toothless 

 and smooth ; gills rising from the back of the tongue on both sides of the 

 wide throat. 



Rays, Br. 7, P. 15, V. 7, D. 19, A. 19, C. 27. 



[From " The Fishes of New York described and arranged," by Samuel L. Mitchill, in 

 Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, 1815, p. 457.] 



New York Shadine {Clupea sadina). 



An elegant species, with a small smutty spot behind the gill-cover, 

 but with neither spots nor stripes on its back or sides ; mouth wide and 

 toothless; tongue small; back delicately variegated with green and 

 blue ; lateral line straight ; sides silvery white, considerably above that 

 line, and below it quite to the belly; the white reflects vividly green, 

 red, and other splendid hues; head rather elongated; lower jaw pro- 

 jecting; scales very easily' deciduous; form neat, taper, and slender; 

 gills rise into the throat on each side of the root of the tongue; eyes 

 pale and large ; tail deeply forked ; on account of the even connection 

 of the false ribs, the belly is not at all serrated, but quite smooth; a 

 semi-transparent space in front of the eyes from side to side. 



Bays, Br. 7, P. 10, V. 9, D. 18, A. 15, C. 19. 



