62 



Depth of body 5 to 5^ times in total length, length of head 

 4 times. Snout pointed, strongly projecting, shorter than eye, 

 the diameter of which is three times in the length of the head. 

 Teeth present in both jaws, minute ; maxillary tapering 

 "behind, extending to gill-opening. Gill-rakers long, 12 on the 

 lower part of anterior arch. Dorsal with 14 rays, originating 

 a little nearer root of caudal tlian end of snout. Anal with 19 

 or 20 rays, originating below middle of dorsal. Pectoral f 

 length of head. Spiny scales of abdomen 9 in number, extend- 

 ing between pectorals and ventrals. Caudal deeply forked. 

 Caudal peduncle twice as long as deep, 40 to 42 scales in a 

 longitudinal series, 9 in a transverse series. A silvery lateral 

 stripe. 



The specimens of whicli this description is given by Boulenger 

 Avere young, the total length being 50 mm. The adults are 

 not known. They are very abundant in the nettings carried 

 •on in the Zwartkops River near Port Elizabeth and are known 

 •as " White-bait," as are also other immature fish, such as 

 Clupea sagax and Spratleloides'cEstuanus. The term "white 

 iDait " is in Europe applied to the young ot the herring and 

 •other fish. 



The Anchovies of warmer seas characterised by a fewer 

 number of vertebrae and the possession of a silvery lateral 

 stripe have been placed in a separate genus {Siotephorus, 

 Lacepede) and the distinction would seem to be justified. 

 Engraulis holodon and E. capensis occur in practically the same 

 latitude in S. Africa, but the former in the warmer waters 

 •of the Indian Ocean and the latter in the colder waters of the 

 Atlantic. 



E. holodon has about 42 vertebrae and a silvery lateral band 

 and, therefore, would be placed in the genus Stolephorus 

 •of Lacept-de. ^ 



Engraulis capensis. n. sp. 



Engraulis cncrasicholus, Pappe (not L.), Synopsis of the 

 Edible Fishes of the Cape of Good Hope, p. 21, 1853 ; Bleeker, 

 Over eenige Vischsoorten van de Kaap de Goede Hoop. Nat. 

 T. Ned. Ind. XXI, i860, p. 21 ; Castelnau, Memoire sur les 

 Poissons de I'Afrique australe, p. 68. 



Depth of body 6f in total length, excluding caudal, length of 

 liead 3g. Snout pointed, strongly projecting, slightly shorter 

 than diameter of eye which is 4^ in length of head. Maxillary 

 not tapering behind, ends in angle of jaw but does not extend 

 to end of mandible. Gill-rakers 35 on lower brancli of outer 

 gill arch, the longest i^ in the diameter of the eye. 



