SllAh A (iAMi: FISH. 215 



which couhl hartlly l)i" ttthirwiM- cnpturid. Now, however, 

 IIOU.S (irons r/itint/i (out vt-Ut, iiiul opportunities tor the practice ol 

 this (Ichghtt'iil art are sou«;ht for so eaj^erly, that any person is 

 rejjariled in sonic dejjree as the sportsman's hencfactor if lie 

 introthiees to liis notice a new species wliich will :itl"uril >purt 

 witli the artificial tly. 



It is, ;i> 1 have ohscrveil, iiulisitiitahly true, that on his 

 entrance into fresh water from the salt, for the purpose of 

 spawning;, the Shad will readily take a <;au(ly lly, the more 

 readily the higher he rims up into the cold and hi-^hly aerated 

 waters in the upper parts of our large rivers, where also they are 

 taken in tlie jjreatest perfection, as for instance in tlie Delaware 

 so far up us Milford, in Pike county, Pennsylvania. 



The New York Shad {.llona l*i<i'.tfahilis) was, 1 helieve, first 

 distinguished specifically l)y l>r. Pikay of New \(>rk, having 

 Ijcen previously confounded with the Allice Shad (»f I'^urope 

 {Alosa Communis of Cuvier, Cln/ntt Alosn Auctorum), to which 

 it hears a very considerahle resendjlance, alth(iu;_'h I presume 

 that the distinction can lie fully made out. 



The body of this fisli is deei) and compressed, the thickness 

 rather less than one-third of the hiiu'th. The length of the 

 head is to that of the whole fish as one to six ; the depth to the 

 length as one to four. The scales are very large; the tail long, 

 slender, and deeply forked. 



The dorsal fin-rnys are nineteen ; the pectoral, fifteen ; ven- 

 tral, nine ; nnnl, twcnty-six ; and caudal twenty. The greatest 

 depth of the hody is ju.st licforc the vcntnd fin. The Shad has 

 no distinct lateral 1 ibdominal edge is strongly serrated, 



csjKcially l>clund the venlndn. 



