2866 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



soldered, and in such cases the loss is sustained by the solderer, but so skillful are 

 those in the craft that a good workman rarely misses more than two or three boxes 

 per hundred. Periodically the fish entirely disappear for a season or so from the 

 coasts of Spain, France, and Italy." 



Especial interest attaches to the Australian fresh-water herrings 

 es " (Diplomystus} , which differ from the typical genus in having a 



series of bony plates similar to those on the lower surface between 

 the back of the head and the dorsal fin, since a similar type of fish has been long 

 known in a fossil state, having been obtained from the Cretaceous rocks of Brazil 

 and Syria, and the Lower Tertiary of the United States and Britain. The persist- 

 ence at the present day of this ancient type of herring in the fresh waters of Aus- 

 tralia is an instance of the survival of primitive forms of life in that region. 



The common anchovy of the Mediterranean (Engraulis encrassich- 



olus) is the typical representative of a second widely-spread genus, 

 with over forty species, differing from the last by the more or less nearly conical 

 muzzle projecting beyond the lower jaw, and also by the eyes being covered with 

 skin; while the cleft of the mouth is deep, and the tail fin forked. In most cases 

 each side of the body is ornamented with a broad longitudinal silvery stripe. The 

 common anchovy is met with off the southwestern coasts of England, but wanders 

 still further to the north, and serves to supply the markets of the world. Some 

 species have the rays of the pectoral fins produced, and thus lead on to the allied 

 Oriental genus Coilia, in which the foremost rays of these fins are filamentous, and 

 the exceedingly long anal fin extends backward to join the caudal. 



A very distinct group, which, as already mentioned, is regarded by 



some as a distinct family, is typically represented by the two species 

 of the tropical and subtropical genus Efaps. In addition to the characters of the 

 skull noticed on p. 2862, these fish have the lower jaw longer, a thin plate of bone 

 extending backward from the point of union of the two branches of the lower jaw, 

 and the whole under surface of the body smooth and rounded. The common species 

 grows to a yard in length. An allied type {Rhacholepis} occurs in the Cretaceous 

 rocks of Brazil. 



The earliest allies of the herring tribe seem to be the extinct slender 



scales (Leptolepididtf} , of which there are a considerable number of 

 species, ranging throughout the Jurassic period. In the typical Leptolepis the dor- 

 sal fin is placed immediately over the pelvic pair, but in the nearly-allied Thrissops 

 it is over the anal. Although there are a number of other extinct generic types, 

 more or less closely related to herrings, it is impossible to enter into their consider- 

 ation here, and we accordingly pass on to 



