FISH OF ONTARIO. 53 



This fish has worked its way from the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys 

 through the canals to Lake Erie, where in some places it is not uncommon. 

 It is a handsome species, but is of no value for food. 



FAMILY CLUPEID^. (THE HERRINGS.) 



Body oblong, or elongate, more or less compressed, covered with 

 cycloid or pectinated scales. Belly sometimes rounded, sometimes com- 

 pressed, in which case it is often armed with bony serratures. Head 

 naked, usually compressed. Mouth rather large, terminal, the jaws about 

 equal ; maxillaries forming the lateral margins of the upper jaw, each com- 

 posed of about three pieces. Premaxillaries not protractile ; teeth mostly 

 small, often feeble or wanting, variously arranged. Adipose eyelid pre- 

 sent or absent. Gill rakers long and slender ; gill membranes not con- 

 nected, free from the isthmus. No gular plate. Gills four, a slit behind 

 the fourth. Branchiostegals usually few (six to fifteen). Posterior lower 

 part of opercular region often with an angular emargination, the tips of 

 the larger branchiostegals being abruptly truncate. Pseudobranchia> 

 present. No lateral line. Dorsal fin median or somewhat posterior, rarely 

 wanting. No adipose fin. Ventrals moderate or small. Anal usually 

 rather long ; caudal fin forked. Vertebrae, forty to fifty-six. 



GENUS POMOLOBUS. (ALEWIVES.) 



Body oblong, more or less compressed ; mouth moderate, terminal, 

 the jaws about equal, or the lower projecting, the upper scarcely notched 

 at tip; teeth feeble, variously placed, probably never wholly absent, man- 

 dibles very deep at base, shutting within the maxillaries ; gill rakers more 

 or less long and slender, numerous; adipose eyelid present; scales thin, 

 cycloid, deciduous, entire, rounded posteriorly; cheeks with the free part 

 longer than deep ; dorsal fin rather short, nearly median, beginning in 

 advance of ventrals, its posterior ray not prolonged in a filament; ventrals 

 present; anal moderate; belly compressed, strongly serrated before and 

 behind ventrals. 



(60) Gold Shad. Sawbelly. 



(Pomolobus chrysochloris.) 



Bouv compressed, rather low, the caudal peduncle stout and the belly 

 strongly serrated ; head slender, rather pointed, lower jaw strongly pro- 

 jecting, maxillary reaching posterior part of the eye. Eye large, nearly 

 one-fourth the length of head ; fins moderate, caudal deeply forked. Scales, 

 15-52 to 58. 



D. III., 15; A. III., 16. 



Colour, above blue; below silvery, with golden reflections on sides. 

 Length, about eighteen inches. 



