MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIATI. 215 



scales, and in the greater number we find a natatory bladder and many caeca. 

 A part only of the family ascend rivers. 



CLUPEA, Linnaeus. 



The Herrings have two well-marked characters in the narrow and short in- 

 termaxillaries, that constitute but a small portion of the 

 upper jaw, the sides oT which are completed by the max- 

 illaries, so that these sides are alone protractile ; and in 

 the inferior edge of the body, which is compressed, and 

 "f where the scales form notches resembling those of a saw. 

 \} The maxillaries, besides, are divided into three parts. The 

 branchiae are so much cleft, that all the fishes of the genus 

 are said to die instantly when taken from the water. The sides of the branchia 

 rays next to the mouth are pectiniform. Of all fishes, these have the finest 

 and most numerous bones. 



C. harengus, Lin. (The Common Herring.) This celebrated fish leaves the 

 Arctic seas every summer, and descends in autumn on the western coast of 

 France in numberless legions, or rather in solid shoals of incalculable extent 

 spawning on the way, and arriving at the mouth of the British channel in the 

 middle of winter, in a very attenuated condition. Whole fleets are occupied 

 in this fishery, the extent and importance of which are too well known to need 

 a comment. The best are those taken in the North ; such as are caught on the 

 coast of Lower Normandy are lean, dry, and of a disagreeable flavour. 



To this division, or Clupea proper, belong the Sprat, White-Bait, Pilchard, 

 and Sardine. 



AIOSA, Cuvier, 



Differs from Clupea, properly so styled, in an emargination of the middle of 

 the upper jaw ; all the other characters are those of the Pilchard and Sardine. 



A. vulgaris (The Shad). A much larger and thicker fish than the Herring, 

 attaining a length of three feet, and distinguished by the absence of sensible 

 teeth, and by an irregular black spot behind the gills. It ascends the rivers in 

 spring, and is then highly esteemed ; when taken at sea, it is dry and of a 

 disagreeable flavour. 



Next to the true Clupeae come some genera, which approach them in the 

 trenchant and indented abdomen. They are Odontognathus, Pristigaster, 

 Notopterus, Engraulis (the Anchovy), Megalops, Elops, Hyodon, &c. &c. 



ORDER III. 



MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIATI. 



THIS order is characterised by ventrals inserted under the pectorals; the 

 pelvis is also directly suspended to the bones of the shoulder. It contains 

 almost as many families as genera. 



