CLUPEIOE THE HERRINGS 47 



We have found gravid females, and males running with 

 milt, in the central part of the Illinois River in May, and have 

 seen specimens in February in so sluggish a condition, that 

 they were easily dipped up with a net. 



The young are extremely different from the adult, slender 

 and minnow-like in shape, and with a row of fine teeth on the 

 upper jaw, although the mouth of the adult is entirely toothless 

 and smooth. The internal structure of the young also differs 

 remarkably from that of the full-grown fish, especially in the 

 much greater simplicity of the digestive apparatus, the intes- 

 tine, in specimens not more than an inch long, passing almost 

 directly back from the stomach to the vent. The food of the 

 young consists, like that of most of our young fishes, almost 

 wholly of small crustaceans and insect larvae the animal 

 plankton of our waters. That of larger specimens, on the other 

 hand, is very uniform in character, comprising quantities of 

 mud, with which the intestine is commonly packed from end to 

 end, mixed with many minute plants, and much vegetable 

 debris. Occasionally in the vicinity of distilleries, this fish 

 feeds, like the buffalo-fish, on distillery slops, and sometimes 

 one will find univalve mollusks, aquatic insects, and the like, 

 sparsely represented in the food. Half-grown specimens often 

 contain larger quantities of the plankton organisms than are 

 found in the food of the adult. 



The flesh is coarse and not delicate in flavor, but still is 

 not unpalatable, and is eaten by some. In the Great Lake 

 region this species is often caught and offered for sale under the 

 name of "lake shad." It is seldom used in Illinois, however, 

 but is systematically picked out of the catch and thrown away 

 by the fishermen, who regard it as a nuisance rather than a 

 benefit, commonly ignoring its value as food for the species we 

 most prize. 



FAMILY CLUPEID^ 



THE HERRINGS 



Body oblong or elongate, more or less compressed, covered with cy- 

 cloid or pectinated scales; head naked; belly rounded, or compressed and 

 serrated; lateral line wanting; skeleton osseous; vertebrae 40 to 56, anterior 

 ones not modified; ventral fins abdominal: dorsal median or somewhat 

 posterior; no adipose fin; caudal forked; mesocoracoid present; gill-mem- 

 branes free from isthmus; gill-rakers slender: branchiostegals usually few 

 (6 to 15) ; pseudobranchise present; adipose eyelid present or wanting; mouth 

 terminal, oblique; premaxillaries not protractile; maxillaries composed each 



