CLUPEA ALOSA. 261 



testinal canal makes two convolutions. Behind the stomach there is an 

 immense number of pyloric appendages of unequal length, some being four 

 times as long as others. They are longer and more numerous in the male 

 than in the female. The liver has two lobes, but the right lobe subdivides 

 into two ; the gall-bladder is large, dark green, and on the right side. The 

 air-bladder is elongated to a point at both ends ; a short thick pneumatic 

 canal connects it with the stomach. 



The organs of reproduction are enormously developed. The two ovaries 

 are symmetrical, and at spawning-time extend over the pyloric appendages, 

 liver, stomach, and intestine, between which they squeeze their way while 

 distending the ventral cavity. The eggs are of uniform size, and are esti- 

 mated to number hundreds of thousands. 



The young cock is smaller than the hen, and arrives in the rivers earlier, 

 but the big cock is late in arriving. The small fish sell in the spring at six 

 shillings a dozen, but later they are four shillings a dozen, and one hen counts 

 for two cocks. 



The length is about two feet. The fish seldom weighs less than four 

 pounds, and in France the weight varies from two to three kilogrammes, but in 

 Germany and Austria it is smaller. 



The back is a pale olive-green with golden iridescence. The colour is paler 

 on the sides ; the throat and abdomen incline to sea-green ; but the scales have 

 a gold and silver and frequently a pinkish lustre. The upper part of the head 

 inclines to brown, and the operculum is golden. At the sides the scales are 

 dotted with black and the large spot on the shoulder is dark olive-green. 



The dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins are blackish-grey. The anal is grey 

 and spotted with black ; the ventral fins are white. 



Clupea finta (CUVIER). Twaite Shad. 



D. 1820, A. 2024, V. 9, P. 1516, C. 19. Scales : lat. line 6075. 



The general form and proportions of the Twaite Shad are similar to those 

 of the Allis Shad, so that there is no difference in the head except that the 

 gill-rakers are stout and bony, and number only from twenty -one to twenty- 

 seven on the inner side of the horizontal part of the outer branchial arch. The 

 body is a little more elongated. 



The fins are alike, but the anal fin is smaller. The basal half of the 

 caudal is similarly covered with small scales, and has the two elongated scales 

 parallel to each other towards the middle of the fin, which we have already 

 seen to characterise the Allis Shad. The resemblance extends to there being 



