178 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



water. It is a small species, rarely exceeding 3 inches in length, and is abundant 

 in most parts of its range. The writer found it common in the Albemarle 

 region; it is also recorded from Lake Mattamuskeet, and is doubtless to be 

 found throughout the state coastwise. 



Genus KIRTLANDIA Jordan & Evermann. Rough Silversides. 

 This genus is scarcely separable from Menidia, as the characters on w'hich 

 it is based — gashed scales on the body and scaly dorsal and anal fins — are pos- 

 sessed in some degree by species of Menidia. The genus contains perhaps only 

 a single species, which is variable. (Named for Dr. J. P. Kirtland, an early 

 student of American fishes.) 



154. KIRTLANDIA VAGRANS (Goode & Bean). 

 ''Sardine"; Silver-fish; Silverside. 



Chirostoma vagrant Goode & Bean, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, 1879, 148; Pensacola, Fla. 



Menidia vagrans laciniata Swain, in Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis of the Fishes of North America, 908, 1883, 



Beaufort, N. C. 

 Menidia laciniata, Jordan, 1886, 27; Beaufort. 



Kirtlandia vagrans et laciniata, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 794, 795, pi. cxxiv, fig. 336. 

 Kirtlandia vagrans laciniata, Jordan & Evermann, 1898. 2840. 



Diagnosis. — Depth contained 5.5 to 6 times in length; head contained 4.4 times in 

 length; eye large, .33 head and greater than snout; scales firm, rough to the touch, edges 

 crenate, some with 12 points, number in lateral series 48 to 50, in transverse series 6 or 7, large 

 scales on vertical fins and head; spinous dorsal fin small, its origin slightly in advance of anal, 

 the rays iv + 1,7 or v + i,7; anal base equal to length of head, the rays i,14 to i,19; caudal fin 

 slightly forked, the lobes equal; pectorals about length of head, their tip extending slightly 

 beyond origin of ventrals. Color: pale green on back, silvery on sides and belly, with a broad 

 silvery band covering parts of third and fourth rows of scales; scales of back dark spotted on 

 edge; muzzle yellowish; caudal yellow, dorsal and pectorals dusky, other fins plain, {vagrans, 

 wandering). 



This silverside is abundant on sandy shores from Virginia to Texas, and is 

 also known from New Jersey and New York. Swain's type of his supposed vari- 

 ety laciniata came from Beaufort, N. C, where the fish is common. Jordan & 

 Evermann consider the typical form as inhabiting the Gulf coast, and the variety 

 laciniata as representing the fish found on the Atlantic coast. The species 

 reaches a length of 4 inches, and is largely consumed by other fishes. Owing to 

 the peculiar laciniate scales along the back, this fish is rough to the touch. Many 

 specimens collected by Dr. W. C. Kendall at Morehead City in April, 1891, were 

 all males; they were in company with Menidia menidia, of which all the speci- 

 mens observed were spawning females. 



Family MUGILID.E. The Mullets. 



A numerous family of fresh-water and marine fishes, usually going in schools 

 and inhabiting the warmer regions of the world; in North and South America, 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, the mullets are important food fishes. The 

 body is moderately elongate, or oblong, and is slightly to considerably compressed; 

 the C3'cloid scales with which the body is covered are rather large; there is no 



