APPENDIX TO THOMPSON'S VERMONT. 



XROUT-PEHCH. 



UERRING SALMON. 



but, in its teeth, gill covers and particu- 

 larly in its hard serrated scales, to lear 

 considerable resemblance to the perch fam- 

 ily. After searching all the books within 

 my reach, withoiit finding it described, I 

 concluded that it might be new, both in 

 genus and species, and accordingly, in 

 allusion to the above mentioned properties, 

 I described it in my journal under the pro- 

 visional genei'ic name of Salmoperca. A 

 notice of this fish was omitted in my His- 

 tory of Vermont, published in 1812, because 

 I had then only one specimen, and, upon 

 that one, with my little experience,! did 

 not think it prudent to found a new genus 

 and species. AVheu Prof Agassiz was at 

 Burlington, in 1847,1 submitted the above 

 mentioned specimen to his inspection, hav- 

 ing at that time obtained no others. At 

 first sight, he thought it might be a young 

 fish of the salmon family, but, upon further 

 examination, he said it was not a salmon, 

 nor any other fish with which he was ac- 

 quainted. 



During the summer of IBiT, I found 

 three other specimens of this fish, dead, on 

 the lake shore. One of these I took with 

 me to Boston, in September, to the meeting 

 of the Association of American Geologists 

 and Naturalists, and put it into the hands 

 of my friend D. H. Storer, M. D., with a 

 request that he would ascertain what it was, 

 and let me know. 



In May, 1849, I obtained from Winooski 

 river a number of living specimens, which 

 I kept alive for some time; and, observing 

 the great translucency of the living fish, 

 when held up towards the light, I gave it 

 the specific name of pellucida, having pre- 

 viously called it, in my journal, coceia, 

 from its wing-like pectoral fins. 



About this time I noticed, in the pro- 

 ceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, that Prof. Agassiz had laid before 

 the Society an account of a new genus of 

 fishes discovered by him in Lake Superior, 

 which he proposed to call Percopsis. Sus- 

 pecting, from the brief description given of 

 it, that it was identical with my Salmo- 

 PERCA, I wrote to Dr. Storer and inquired 

 of him, if the specimens from Lake Superi- 

 or, presented to the Society by Prof Agas- 

 siz, were like the one I put into his hands 

 in 1847. He wrote me that he could not 

 say — that the specimen went out of his 

 hands soon after he received it, and he had 

 not seen it since. 



In Prof. Agassiz Lake Superior, page 

 '248, I find an account of his genus Per- 

 copsis, and his species P. gutialur,, and 1 

 have no doubt that it is identical with my 

 Salmoperca ■pcUucida. Still, I have 

 thought it best to let it remain, in this 

 Appendix, under the name I had given. 



C^' 



-■^ 



ii& i^ ^'^ 



HERRING SALMON. 



Coregonus clupeiformis. — MiTon. 



Corcgonus artedi. — LeSueur. 

 Anxyrosomus clupeiformis. — Agassiz Lake Supe- 

 rior, p. 339. 



Description. — Color of the back bluish 

 brown-; sides lighter, with silvery reflec- 

 tions ; belly white. Gill covers and cheeks, 

 with silvery and cupreous reflections. Head 

 small, pointed and somewhat flattened 

 above; under jaw longest; mouth small, 

 without teeth ; eyes large, round — irides 

 silvery yellow. Scales large and circular. 

 Lateral line distinct, nearly straight, and 

 passes over 72 scales; 13 rows of scales be- 

 tween the first dorsal and the ventral fin — 

 a long slender bract at the base of the ven- 

 trals. Pectoral fins long and pointed ; 

 ventrals under the anterior part of the 

 dorsal, and triangular ; first dorsal nearly 

 midway between the point of the lower jaw 

 and the extremity of the caudal fin; second 

 dorsal adipose and over the posterior part 

 of the anal, and triangular; cau'iil forked. 



Length, total, 14 inches; to the posterior 

 edge of the operculum, 2.4 ; to tho beginning 

 of the dorsal fin, 6; to the ventrals, 6.2; to 

 the vent, 9; to the anal, 9.3; to the adipose, 

 10.2; to the central base of the caudal, 12; 

 greatest depth in front of the first dorsal, 

 2.5; thickness, 1.4. Length of the longest 

 fin rays : first dorsal, l.G ; Pectoral , 1.5; 

 Ventral, 1.4; Anal, 1, and Caudal 2. 



Rays, 0. 8, D. -^10,-0, P. 4, V. -LH, 

 A. All, C. 18|. 



History. -This fish is only occasionally 

 met with in Lake Champlain, but they some- 

 times appear here in myriads. In the 

 spring of 1847, they were, for a short time, 

 taken. at Burlington, in very large num- 

 bers ; as many as 200 being taken at one 

 haul of the seine. In some years none at 

 all are taken here. The specimen from 

 v/hich the preceding description is made 

 was taken in 1848, and I learned of only 

 two others being taken that season. It re- 

 sembles, somewhat, the Lake Shad, C. al- 

 hus, but is a rounder fish, having much 

 less depth in proportion to its length. It 

 is much esteemed as an article of food. It 

 is common in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, 

 and is called in many places the Shad 

 Salmon. 



