THE ARGENTINE AND HERRING. 129 



we have already pointed out its distingiiishing 

 diiTerences from the atherine, or sand-srneU, of 

 our southern coast. 



A little silvery fisli, called the argentine, 

 (Scopelus Humboldtii,) is sometimes, but very 

 rarely, found on various parts of our coast. 

 Cuvier says it is taken in the Mediterranean, 

 mingled with anchovies. 



Here we close our sketch of the salmon 

 family, easily distinguished by the adipose or 

 fatty texture of the second dorsal fin, which is 

 destitute of rays. 



The next family to which we shall attend is that 

 of the herrings, pilchards, etc., termed Cliipeidc^. 

 Of these, the herring may be first noticed. 

 Notwithstanding Pennant's account of the mi- 

 gration of these fishes in vast shoals from the 

 high northern latitudes, dividing and subdivid- 

 ing, as islands and capes of the main land sever 

 their ranks — a statement copied into most 

 of the popular accounts of the day, without a 

 single inquiry — it is now ascertained that such 

 a procedure is not the fact. In short, Pennant's 

 details are erroneous. The herring is not a 

 fish of the high northern latitudes ; voyagers 

 do not find it in the arctic waters — at least it 

 is rare. Crantz, in his History of Greenland, 

 r-ays : " The proper herring does not come into 



E 



