PISCES. 115 



Clupea L. (excl. of some genera). Teeth in jaws, palate and 

 tongue small; sometimes no teeth. Gape of mouth moderate. 

 Superior maxillarj bones divided into 3 laminas. Jaws subequal, 

 or lower produced beyond upper. Branchiostegous membrane with 

 6 — 8 rajs. Body compressed, elongate, keel of abdomen serrate. 

 Scales large, thin, deciduous. 



A very numerous genus, which Valenciennes has lately divided into 

 many small genera, based especially on the teeth. Since however the teeth 

 are very fine, and occur sometimes in young fishes of the same species that 

 are afterwards without them, since moreover many of these groups do not 

 differ in habitus and other characters, we cannot adopt these divisions as 

 genera, and even think that some of them are of little service as sulvgenera 

 for the distinction of the species. We shaU, nevertheless, as far as our plan 

 permits, follow them. 



•f SwpramaxXLlary hone, adJiering hy a moveable joint to the end of the small 

 {ntermaxillai~y hone. Lower jaw produced heyond the upper. 



A. Very small teeth in vomer, tongue and palate. Jaws rough, with very 

 minute teeth. 



Clujjea Valenc. (and Rogenia ejusd.), Branchiostegous membrane 

 with 8 rays, 



Sp. Clupea harengus L., Bloch Icldh. Tab. 29, fig. i, Gov. R. Ani., ed. ill., 

 Poiss. PI. 104, fig. I ; the herring, der haring, lehareng, a fish of the North 

 Sea, which does not occur in the Mediterranean, and of an astonishing 

 fecundity. When Willem Beukelz at the end of the fom-teenth century 

 had discovered the mode of curing herrings, the capture of this fish, the 

 great fishery of Holland, soon became a gold-mine for the country ; which, 

 in the seventeenth century sent out annually about two thousand herring- 

 boats. Valenciennes has treated at length of the natural histoiy, and 

 of the history of the fishery. Hist. nat. des Poiss. XX. pp. 31 — ■242, 



Clupea alba Yake., Rogenia alha Valenc, Yabb, Brit. Fish. 11. p. 126, 

 Cuv. et Val. Poiss. PI. 601, has teeth not only on the palate-bones, but also 

 on the pterygoids. This is the celebrated white-hait of the English, In the 

 beginning of summer white-bait dinners are very common at Greenwich 

 and Blackwall. 



AU the known species of this sub-genus are from the northern hemisphere ; 

 Clupea pxjntica belongs to the Black Sea, and a fourth different species to 

 the coasts of North America. 



B. Teeth of vomer none ; teeth in tongvje, palatine and pterygoid hones. 

 Jaios tvith teeth very small or none. 



Sardinella Yalenc. Jaws edentulous. Dorsal fin placed over 

 ventral fins. Brancliiostegous membrane with 6 rays. 



Harengula Yalenc. Branchiostegous' membrane with 6 or 7 

 rays, 



8—2 



