SPRAT. 1 67 



or May, according to the temperature of the season. 

 The Thames Shad, according to the same author, 

 does not appear till the latter end of May or begin- 

 ning of June, and is esteemed but a coarse and 

 insipid fish. It seems to be subject to some variety: 

 is not always marked by the black spots mentioned 

 in the specific character ; and is sometimes seen ol 

 a dusky and sometimes of a cupreous or rufous 

 tinge. 



SPRAT. 



Clupea Sprattus. C. argenteaj dorso subfusco, maxilla inferiors 



longiore, abdomine serrato. 

 Silvery Herring, with brownish back, lower jaw longer than 



the upper, and serrated addomen. 

 Clupea Sprattus. C. maxilla inferiore longiore, pinna; ani radiis 



septendedm. Block, t. 2Q.f. 2. 



Clupea Sprattus. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 523. 



La Sardine. Duham. 2. p. 418. 

 Sprat. Penn. Brit. Zool. 



So much allied to the Herring in almost all 

 points except in size as to have been frequently 

 considered as the young of that fish : indeed the 

 differences are, at first view, so slight, that it is 

 not very easy to form a true speciiic character. 

 Mr, Pennant observes that the chief difference 

 consists in the abdomen, which in the Sprat is 

 strongly serrated : he adds that the vertebrae in the 

 back bone of the Sprat are forty-eight in number, 

 but in that of the Herring fifty-six : the back fin is 

 placed more remote from the head tbau in the 



