258 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
THE AMERICAN ALEWIVE. 
ALOSA TYRANNUS. 
PLATE XIII. FIG. 38. 
Clupea tyrannus, Bay Alewife. Latrope, Am. Phil. Soc. Trans. Vol. 5, p. 77, pl. 1. 
C. vernalis. Mrrcni.u, Report, p. 22. Ip. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 454. 
Alosa vernalis, Spring Herring or Alewive. STORER, Massachusetts Report, p. 114. 
Characteristics. Indistinct longitudinal lines on the sides. A dark spot on the shoulder. 
Pectorals without an accessory plate. Anal nearly even. Length eight 
to ten inches. 
Description. Body elongate, strongly compressed. Length of the head, to the total length, 
as one to six. Depth of the body at the dorsal fin, to the total length, as one to four. Scales 
very large and deciduous. Lateral line indistinct. Abdomen strongly serrated, more especially 
behind the ventrals. Head small, flattened between the eyes. Mouth very protractile ; the 
gape opening upwards, with the upper jaw notched in the centre ; labials slightly roughened. 
Eyes large, two diameters from the end of the nose. Nostrils simple, near the edge of the 
upper jaw. Tongue long, thin and smooth. Branchial arches angular, with long filaments 
on the first arch; smaller on the others. Branchial rays seven. Dorsal fin quadrangular, 
slightly longer than high; the first and second rays short ; the third longest, the margin slightly 
concave. (In Latrobe’s figure, the dorsal is omitted.) Pectorals long, subacute, and without 
an accessory plate. Ventrals small, with a feeble and indistinct scale on its outer side. Anal 
low, with subequal rays. Caudal forked. Caca numerous. One which I examined, had its 
stomach filled with shrimps. 
Color. Back blue-green, approaching to purple ; sides silvery. From four to six indistinct 
dusky lines along the sides. Head dark green above, and the tip of the lower jaw of the same 
color. Opercles yellow. 
Length, 8°0 - 10°0. 
Fin rays, D173, Potbis- Ve 9: ANTS 1O.21.8: 
We do not adopt the first name proposed by Peck (serrata) in Belknap’s History of New- 
Hampshire, as it is a mere name without any specific character, or clue to its identity. La- 
trobe’s name, although absurd and unmeaning, must, however, be retained. 
The Alewive appears in great quantities in the Chesapeake, from March to May. In our 
waters, they appear with the shad about the first of April, but are never sufficiently numerous 
to form a separate fishery. On the coast of Massachusetts, they again appear to be numerous. 
According to Dr. Storer, five thousand barrels were cured on that coast in the year 1836. 
