FISHES COLLECTED IN JAPAN. 27 
47, CLUPEA MELASTOMA, Temm. and Schleg. 
CiuprA Metastoma? Schneider, (Bloch.,) 427. 
Crupea Metastoma, T. and 8., Faun. Jap. Pisces, p. 237, pl. CVIII., fig. 1. 
Norrs.—Yedo Bay, (8} inches,) Isagi. The drawing indicates the dark dots on the lateral 
line very distinctly. 
Though no drawing was brought home of the fish which is described in the Fauna Japonica 
(p. 236, pl. 107, fig. 2) as the Clupea Micropus, it may not be considered improper to put on 
record a few remarks concerning it, which may prove interesting as regards the geographical 
distribution of the Clupeoidae. 
This Clupeoid has a smooth cylindrical abdomen without serratures, and evidently does not 
come under the genus Clupea proper. M. Valenciennes, in a supplement to the 20th vol. of 
the Hist. des Poissons, describes a fish which seems to have given him some troubie to place in 
its proper position in the family. He however puts it between Butyrinus and Hlops, and names 
it Dussumiera acuta. It was brought from the coast of Malabar and Coromandel by Dussumier, 
but had been observed there previously by Leschenault and Sonnerat. M. Valenciennes adds 
that the Clupea Micropus, referred to above, may perhaps be of the same species, but that if 
distinct it would be a second species of his new genus. 
Bleecker, in his ‘‘Nalezingen op de Ichthyologie van Japan,’’ page 48, admits the close con- 
nection of the Micropus with Dussumiera, but separates it from that genus, owing to his having 
detected teeth on the vomer. He makes a genus Htrumeus to receive it, its Japanese name 
being Etrumeiwast. It however seems to belong to Valenciennes’ genus, who distinctly de- 
scribes the vomer as having rudimentary teeth on some specimens. Bleecker describes, also, 
two new species of Dussumiera in his ‘‘ Bijdrage tot de Kennis der Chirocentroidei,’’ &c., page 
12, from the Moluccas. 
The most curious fact, however, in the geographical distribution of this new genus is, that 
the same, or a closely allied one, is found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Dekay, 
in the Natural History of the State of New York, (Fish, p. 262, pl. 40, fig. 128,) describes a fish 
as the Alosa teres, of which he had only seen one specimen. It is, however not rare on our 
shores, where it is found in the lower bay or on the coast outside, in summer, in small numbers, 
near the surf, and is known to the fishermen as the round herring and bass-bait. Its size and 
form enable it to pass through the nets. This fish is closely allied to the genus Dussumiera, if 
not in reality belonging to it. M. Valenciennes, in the Hist. des Poissons, vol. 20. page 423, 
describes a herring found by Lesueur near Philadelphia as Dekay’s Alosa teres. It is certainly 
not Dekay’s fish, though it would be difficult to say where it ought to be placed. It has, besides 
other differences, 19 anal rays, while the ¢eres is stated by Dekay to have but 12. In most of 
the specimens caught here but 10 were counted, rarely more, which makes it correspond to 
Schlegel’s Micropus, which had but 8 anal rays. Its formula is as follows: P. 15, V. 8, D. 
19, A. 10, C. 4,19, 4. It requires to be redescribed, but enough is known of it to place it 
either in Dussumiera or very near it. It resembles Schlegel’s Micropus more nearly than Va- 
lenciennes’ Dussumiera, judging from the published figures of them. 
