MALACOPTERYGII. 573 



SARDINES are a small species of Herring, much prized as a rel- 

 ish. From forty to fifty thousand are often taken at a 

 single haul in the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Atlantic. 

 The American Shad, Alosa prc&stabilis, (Lat. excellent,) or A. 

 sapidissima, (Lat. most savory,) is a beautiful and savory fish 

 which enters our rivers between January and May, the time va- 

 rying with the latitude, passing to a considerable distance from 

 the mouths of the rivers in order to spawn. They descend the 

 Hudson river during the latter part of May, when they are 

 called Back Shad, and are lean and scarcely fit to eat. Shad 

 are caught in large seines, and in gill-nets attached to long 

 spears, and often set in from seven to ten fathoms of water. They 

 are taken in large numbers in the Hudson and other rivers, and 

 more especially in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. In abund- 

 ant seasons they are sold at from six to ten dollars per hundred, 

 and packed away in salt. This species is of much finer flavor 

 than the COMMON SHAD, A. vulgaris, of Europe. 



The ALEWIVES, A. tyrannus, appear in great numbers in 

 Chesapeake Bay, from March to May. In New York waters, 

 they appear with the shad, about the first of April, but not in 

 numbers sufficiently large to form a separate fishery. They 

 are numerous on the coast of Massachusetts, arid very good food. 



The MOSSBONKER, A. menhadan, is valuable and largely used 

 for manure, and in some places as bait for mackerel, cod, and 

 halibut. This fish also has the names, Bony-fish, Hard-head, 

 and Menhadan, "the last being the name given by the Manhat- 

 tans." It is dry, full of bones, and without flavor, and therefore 

 is seldom eaten. 



StJB-BRACHIALS. 



These are distinguished by having the ventral fins under the 

 pectorals, and the pelvis immediately attached to the bones of 

 the shoulder. 



(22) The Gadida, or COD FISH family, have an elongated body, 

 covered with soft scales not extending on the head. The genus 

 Morrhua represents the true Cod. The best known species is 

 the Morrhua vulgaris, found in the seas of Europe as far south 

 as Gibraltar, and in those of America as far as Newfound- 

 land ; its maximum size is sixty or seventy pounds. The spe- 

 cies commonly found through the whole year off the coast of the 

 United States, and going into deep water in the spring, is M. 

 Americana, from one to three feet in length. Occasionally it 

 attains an immense size. Specimens are sometimes taken which 



