J73 MALACOP. ABDOM. HERRING FAMILY. 



found by Pennant, near his own residence in Flint- 

 snire. The Bristol Channel, coast of Glamorgan- 

 shire, Norfolk, and Durham, may be mentioned as 

 localities where it has occurred. Mr. Yarrell states 

 that a specimen was caught in the Thames, in 1838, 

 but the fish was so little known there, that it was 

 brought to him with a request to know what fish it 

 was. 



Besides the British species of the Herring family 

 above enumerated, Mr. Swainson describes another 

 under the name of Clupea macrocephala^ or Great- 

 headed Sprat, which was taken by him in some 

 abundance, in the river Mersey, in the spring of 

 1817- He says that the perfectly central position 

 of the ventral fin, and the number of vertebras, 

 which are fifty-five instead of forty-eight, together 

 with the large size of the head, &c. separate it from 

 C. sprattus ; the more backward position of the 

 dorsal distinguishes it both from the Whitebait and 

 Twaite-shad of Yarrell, although both have nearly 

 the same number of vertebras : from the other Bri- 

 tish Clupeidas its differences he considers as too ob- 

 vious to be mentioned.* 



We are not aware that this supposed species has 

 been noticed since, or is in any way alluded to by 

 Ichthyologists. Some further acquaintance with it 

 is therefore desirable, before a place can be with 

 safety assigned to it among the well authenticated 

 species. 

 * See Nat. Hist, of Fishes in Lardner's Cab. Cyc. vol. ii. p. 



