284 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



' The caudal fin is deeply forked ; the depth of the fin at its extremities, 

 when expanded, is equal to the height of tbe outer rays. 



The fin rays are as follows : D. 19; .P. 15, 16, or 17 ; Y. 6 ; A. 20, 21, 

 or 22 5 C. 20A. 



Length, eight to fourteen inches. 



[From Dekay's "Zoology of New York," Part IV., Fishes, 1842, p, 259.] 



The mossbonker. Alosa menhaden. 

 (Plate XXI, Fig. 60.) 



Bony-fish or Mossbouker. Clupea menhaden . 



MiTCHiLL, Report iu part, «&c., p. 21. 

 Hard-head or Marsbankers. C. menhaden. 



Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, vol. 1, p. 453. 

 The Menhaden, Hard-head. Alosa menhaden. 



Stouer, Massachusetts, Report, p. 117. 



Characteristics. — Silvery ; no stripes ; a humeral spot. A double ac- 

 cessory ray to the ventrals. Abdomen serrated behind the ventrals. 

 Length 10-14 inches. , 



Description. — Body much compressed ; its height to its length as one 

 to four nearly. Abdomen cultrate, with a fissure along its edge, indis- 

 tinctly serrated before the ventrals, sharply serrate behind. Scales 

 large, elliptical, distinctly and evenly ciliate on the free margins; 

 on the back smaller and more crowded ; on the nape the scales have 

 longer unequal ciliae. No appearance of a lateral line. Head large, com- 

 pressed, one-third of the total length ; the opercles with curved and 

 radiating strise. Mouth large, the upper jaw emarginate on the side. 

 The gill membrane on one side folds over its opposite, with five slender 

 cylindrical, and three larger and flat rays. Branchial arches four, with 

 a small rudimentary one iu front, all angular, and with a long minutely 

 fringed filament. Eyes nearly covered by a nictitating membrane. 

 Tongue soft, white, minutely punctate with black. The dorsal fin long, 

 emarginate; the first three rays simple, articulated; the anterior be- 

 ing very short, the remainder branched ; first branchial ray highest, the 

 last higher than the four preceding. This fin is concave on its margin, 

 and is placed in a sheath. Pectorals long and pointed on a line with 

 the margin of the opercles ; the first ray simple ; the accessory plate 

 large and as long as tbe fifth ray. Ventrals feeble, short, fan-shaped, 

 lying under the anterior jiortion of the dorsal, with double accessory 

 plates. Anal long and low, the two first rays simple, the first shortest ; 

 the last ray longer than tbe fourteen preceding. Scales covering the 

 base of the rays, so as to form a sort of sheath. Caudal forked, much 

 branched, and with numerous accessory rays. Scales extending high 



