THE ALUS SHAD 131 



they have been found to thrive and breed when kept 

 in ponds. 



The Smelt is a valued food-fish, and is in best 

 condition for the table in the autumn and early- 

 spring. It has been wrongly said to take its name 

 from its odour, resembling that of cucumbers, and 

 sometimes quite strong ; but there can be little 

 doubt that the word Smelt is from the Anglo-Saxon 

 sineolf, smooth and shining. Sparling is the 

 equivalent of the German Spierling and the French 

 cperlan (old French esperlan). 



The Herring family {Clupeidce) is closely related 

 to the Salmonids, differing especially in that both 

 lateral line and adipose fin are absent, whilst two 

 supramaxillaries, instead of one only, are attached to 

 the maxillary bone, and oviducts are present. The 

 fishes of this family occur in large numbers in all 

 tropical and temperate seas, but rarely at any great 

 distance from the coast ; many of them enter fresh 

 water, and a few are permanently fluviatile or 

 lacustrine. Our British species are the Anchovy, 

 Herring, Pilchard, Sprat, AUis Shad, and Twaite 

 Shad ; the two last spawn in fresh water and must, 

 therefore, be noticed here. 



The Shads are very similar in most respects to 

 the Herring, but are sometimes placed in a distinct 

 genus {A/osd) characterized by the presence of a 

 notch at the extremity of the upper jaw ; our two 

 species have been so often confused with each other 

 and with allied species that some details of their 

 characteristic features must be given. 



The Allis Shad {Clupea alosd) has the body 

 moderately elongate and strongly compressed ; the 



