104 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
20 + 12; snout 4% in head; eye 5; maxillary 2% ; interorbital 
space 4; pectoral 144; ventral 35%; least depth of caudal 
peduncle 3%. Body elliptical, compressed, deepest anteriorly 
and tapering posteriorly. Head very large, short and heavy. 
Snout short. Adipose eyelid very large. Mouth large. Jaws 
about even, no teeth. Interorbital space convex. Cheeks 
deeper than long. Gill-rakers very long and slender, densely set, 
and appearing to fill mouth when it is opened, much longer than 
eye. Gill-arches angularly bent. Scales deeper than long, closely 
imbricated, and exposed edges vertical, fluted or pectinated, es- 
pecially those before dorsal. Intestinal canal elongate. Peri- 
toneum dusky. Dorsal inserted a little nearer base of caudal 
than tip of snout, its height equals maxillary. Anal beginning 
close behind dorsal. Pectoral about 34 of space of ventral. Ven- 
tral inserted opposite origin of dorsal and reaching not quite 
half way to anal. Color bluish above, and sides and lower sur- 
face silvery. Sides brassy. A dusky scapular blotch with a 
number of smaller spots following on costal region above. Fins 
pale. Length 9% inches. Atlantic City. 
Plentiful at times at Cape May, though apparently scarce as 
compared with its former abundance. Now used altogether as 
bait in many places. Previously great numbers were taken and 
deposited by wagon-loads as fertilizers. Though occurring now 
in small-sized schools, they are generally to all appearances fatter 
in the fall. I have found them abundant in both winter and 
spring off Sea Isle City. As they are surface swimmers they fre- 
quently fall a prey to the fish hawk. Of no account as a food- 
fish, but of use for the oil and as fertilizers. At one time they 
were especially abundant in the inlet about the sewers of Atlantic 
City, where they fed on refuse, swimming close to the surface in 
large schools and producing quite a commotion. 
Brevoortia tyrannus Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 
149.—Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 359.—Smith, 
Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 369. , 
Alosa menhaden Baird, 9th An. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1854, p. 
347.—Cook, Geol. Cape May, 1857, p. 113. 
Brevoortia menhaden Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1867, p. 822, from 
Cook. 
