106 HERRINGS. 



The family of Salmonides comprises a great number of other 

 genera. 



30. The FAMILY OF CLUPEJE has no adipose fin like the pre- 

 ceding ; the upper jaw is formed, as in the trouts, in the middle, 

 by intermaxillary bones without pedicles, and on the sides by the 

 maxillary bones. The body of these fishes is always scaly, and 

 most of them ascend rivers. 



31. The most important tribe of this family is that of the 

 HERRINGS, characterised by narrow, short, intermaxillary bones, 

 and by the inferior edge of the body being compressed, the scales 

 of which are so arranged as to form notches like the teeth of a 

 saw. These fishes are remarkable for the fineness and great 

 number of their bones, as well as for the peculiarities of their 

 branchial apparatus. 



32. HERRINGS PROPERLY so CALLED, Clupea, have a mode- 

 rate sized mouth, without a notch in front. 



33. The Common Herring, Clupea harengus^ is ordinarily 

 eight or nine inches in length, the head small and compressed, 

 the mouth slightly cleft, the lower jaw longer than the upper, the 

 inferior edge of the body slightly carinate, the scales large, and 

 slightly adherent, the back bluish, and the belly silvery. It in- 

 habits the northern seas, and arrives every year in innumerable 

 legions upon different parts of the coasts of Europe, Asia, and 

 America, but does not go very far south of the fortieth degree 

 of north latitude. Some naturalists suppose that all herrings 

 periodically retire beneath the ice of the polar seas, and set out 

 from this common retreat in an immense column, which, dividing, 

 spreads along almost all the coasts north of the parallel above 

 named ; but this distant emigration, and this common rendezvous 

 in the arctic regions, are far from being demonstrated, and there 

 is reason to believe that such is not the case. 



34. In the months of April and May, herrings begin to appear 

 in the waters of the Shetland Islands, and towards the end of 

 June, or in July, they arrive in incalculable numbers, forming 

 vast and dense shoals, which sometimes extend over the surface 

 of the sea for several leagues, and hundreds of feet in thickness. 

 In September, they arrive on the coasts of Great Britain. From 

 that region they cross the Atlantic in a south westerly direction, 

 and make their appearance on the coast of Georgia, about the 



30. What are the characters of the Family of Clupeae ? 



31. What are the- characters of the tribe of Herrings? 



32. How are Herrings properly so called distinguished? 



33. What are the characters of the common Herring ? 



34. Where are Herrings found ? 



