158 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and, as the season advances, diminish gradually in price to fifty cents. Most of the fish 

 are disposed of at the seines (fresh), and cured by the purchasers. Two or more dams 

 across the " Great River," at Taunton, impede the progress of this species very much ; 

 and on the " Little River," where many dams and factories have been erected, and 

 where forty years ago thousands were taken, not one is now to be seen. In the Merri- 

 mack River, too, they have been diminishing in numbers for the last twenty years ; the 

 fishermen think this is owing to the small ponds emptying into the river having been 

 dammed up. A pond in Manchester and Chester was formerly famous for its alewives. 

 At some seasons, large quantities are taken in Mystic River ; thus, fifty thousand were 

 taken at one haul at Medford, in April, 1844. 



A larger quantity of alewives is packed than of any other species of this family. 

 In 1832, 1,730 barrels were inspected; in 1833, 2,266 ; in 1834, 4,320; in 1835, 5,600 ; 

 in 1836, 5,000 ; in 1837, 1,182; in 1838, 604; in 1839, 2,769 ; in 1840, 1,474 ; in 

 1841, 2,840; in 1842, 3,580; in 1843, 5,554; in 1844, 6,380 ; in 1845, 4,714 ; in 

 1846, 2,626* ; in 1847, 3,843 ; in 1848, 1,899| ; in 1849, 2,189; in 1850, 1,629 ; 

 in 1851, 1,358| ; in 1852, 1,604 ; in 1853, 1,580 ; in 1854, 1,645 ; in 1855, 2,775 ; in 

 1856, 2,740|-; in 1857, 2,497. 



New Hampshire, Peck. Massachusetts, Storer. Connecticut, Linsley. New York, 

 Mitchill, Dekay. Chesapeake Bay, Mitchill. 



* 



Alosa menhaden, Storer. 



The Menhaden. 



(Plate XXYI. Fig. 4.) 



Clupja menhaden. Bony-fish, Hard-heads, or Marsh-bankers of New York, Mitch., Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., I. 



p. 453, pi. 5, fig. 7. 

 Alosa menhaden, Menhaden, Hard-head, Storer, Report, p. 117. 



" " Moss-bonker, Dekat, Report, p. 259, pi. 21, fig. 60. 



" " Ayres, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv. p. 275. 



" " Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., New Series, II. p. 459. 



" " " Synopsis, p. 207. 



L'Alose menhaden, Alausa menhaden, Cuv. et Val., Hist. Nat. des Pois., xs. p. 424. 



Color. Upper part of body of a greenish-brown, darker upon .the top of the 

 head and at 'the snout; upper part of the sides in the living fish roseous, and mot- 

 tled with indistinct bluish oscillations, which disappear in death ; abdomen silvery ; 

 gill-covers cupreous, with a rosy tint ; space in front of the eyes translucent ; a black 

 spot, more or less distinct, upon the shoulders ; whole surface of the fish iridescent. 



