278 Mr. Yarrell on a new species of Herring. 
shoals at the mouth of the Thames, may be taken in corroboration, 
for had they matured and deposited any roe, they would, like the adult of 
their own species, have experienced the same necessity for retiring to deep 
water. 
The Herring, however, which it is now my object to particularise, is 
at this time, January 31st, heavy with roe, which, from the appearance 
of the fish, will not be deposited till the middle of February. I have 
been told that Dr. Leach has often stated that our coast produced a second 
species of Herring, but Iam not aware that any notice of it has ever 
appeared. In order, however, to identify the name of so distinguished 
a naturalist with a fish of which perhaps he was the first observer, I pro- 
pose the name of Clupea Leachii for this species, and describe it as 
follows. Much deeper in proportion to its length than our common Her- 
rings: the adult fish measuring but 8 inches long, is 1 inch Z deep, and 
has both dorsal and abdominal line much more convex; a common 
Herring of 1 inch Z deep would measure 104 inches in length. The under 
jaw in the new species is provided with three or four prominent teeth 
placed just within the angle formed by the symphysis. The superior 
maxillz have their edges slightly crenated ; the eye is large, and the fish, 
after it has been dead two or three days, exhibits the red appearance about 
the orbits and opercula, so well known to occur both in the common 
Herring and Sprat; the dorsal fin is placed behind the centre of gravity, 
but not so much so as in the common Herring; the scales are smaller 
without any distinct lateral line; the back and sides are deep blue, with 
green reflections, passing into silvery white beneath; and the edge of the 
belly is carinated, but without serration. Besides some slight but con- 
stant differences in the relative number of the fin rays, there is also a 
difference in the number of the vertebre,—thus 
D. P. V. A. Cc. Vertebree. 
Common Herring 17 14 9056 1A 920 56 
Leach’s Herring 18 17 9 16 20 54 
The flesh of the new species also differs from that of the common Her- 
ring in flavour, and is much more mild. 
Of the viscera in this species, the liver is small; the stomach narrow 
and elongated, with its inferior extremity attached tothe membrane investing 
