HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 287 



[From Uhlor & Lugger's List of the Fishes of Maryland, 187G, p. 133.] 



Bkevoortia MENHADEN. Ale- wife, or Menhaden. 



Body elongated, compressed. Its depth across, at the base of the pec- 

 torals, less than one-fifth the length of the fish ; length of the head more 

 than one-third the length of it. Gill-covers very large. Upper i)art of 

 body greenish-brown, darker upon the top of the head and at the snout; 

 upper part of the sides in the living fish rose-colored and mottled with 

 blue, which disapi)ear in death ; abdomen silvery ; a black spot, more 

 or less distinct, upon the shoulders ; whole surface of thofish iridescent. 



Length 10 to 14 inches. 



Fin-rays: D. 19; P. 15-17; V. G; A. 18-22; C. 20. 



B. menliaden, Mitch., Lit. and Phil. Trans. New York, i. p. 453, pi. 5, fig. 7. 



Alosa menhaden, Storer, Report Fish. Massach., p. 117 ; Dekay, York Faun., Fish., p. 



259, pi. '21,lig. 60; Ayers, Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., iv, p. 275; Stokek, Mem. 



Am. Ac.., vi. p. 337, pi. 26, iig. 3. 

 Brevoortia menhaden, Gill., Proc. Ac. Nat. So. Philad., 1861, p. 37. 



Common on the Atlantic coast of Worcester County and even entering 

 Siuepuxeut Bay, also in vast shoals in Chesapeake Bay, particularly about 

 the mouths of the great rivers of both peninsulas. They have been exten- 

 sively used for manure by the farmers living near the coast, where they 

 are caught by untold thousands in the large seines. 



Acad. Coll. S. I. 



[From Parley's Reports on the Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick, 1852, p. 208.] 



Species 3. — Alosa menhaden — The Mossbonker. 



This fish is known by a variety of popular names, among which are 

 "bony-fish," " hard-head," " pauhagen," and " menhaden." It is seldom 

 eaten, being dry, without flavor, and full of bones. On the coast of the 

 United States it is used as bait for cod, and also extensively as manure 

 for renovating old grass-fields, but not without injury to the health of 

 those who reside in the vicinity. The mossbonker is sometimes caught 

 in the weirs, within the harbor of Saint John, in considerable numbers ; 

 it has occasionally been sold to the ignorant for fall shad, to which it 

 bears some resemblance. The mossbonker is exclusively a sea-fish, 

 never entering the fresh water. 



[From Gray's " Catalogue of Fish, collected and described by Lawrence Theodore 

 Gronow, now in the British Museum," 1854, p. 140.] 



Clupea carolinensis— M. G. B. M. 



Clupea immaculata argentea abdomine anteriore promiuulo dentate: 

 lateribus amplissimis. 



Habitat gregatim ad Carolinam Meridionalem. 



