Jordan and Evcrmann. Fishes of North America. 415 



filament, longer than pupil ; base of tin with a large scaly sheath ; pec- 

 toral and ventral with scaly axillary appendage ; anal similar to dorsal 

 Imt much smaller; pectorals and ventrals rather small; caudal very long, 

 forked to the base, its lobes subequal, straight; base of fin with small 

 scale; ventrals somewhat falcate. Color greenish above, the sides bril- 

 liantly silvery , fins more or less darkened ; inside of ventrals and pectorals 

 blackish. Length 2 to 5 feet. Pacific and Indian oceans, on sandy shores, 

 north to the Hawaiian Islands and to the Gulf of California, where it is 

 abundant ; a food fish of some importance ; occasionally entering streams. 

 Mu.jil dianoB, FORSKAL, Descr. Auim., 74,1775, Red Sea at Djidda, Arabia. 

 JfeytZMbnoMMlFoUTX*) BLOCH & SCHNEIDBR, Syst. Iclith., 121, 1801, Pacific Ocean. 

 CJi<ni-iral>i<-u*, LACKi'f.iiK, U\-\. Nat. Poiss., v, 396, 1803, Arabia. 

 Ci/2>rinn.'n><ila and tl>, (VviER, Reguo Anim., Ed. 2, n, 276, 1829, India. 

 /.. NC/.-VJ/.S ;;,v//-i//,'.7is, BENNETT. Proc. Comin. Zool. Soc., 184, 1832, Ceylon. 

 Butiriint* iiia<lci'tisjntt<-nsix, JKKDON, Miidr. Jouru..Lit. So., xv, 344, Madras. 

 Chanos nientu, Isle of France, chloroptents, Madipolam, nuchalis, Vigazapatam, orietitalis, 



Japan, and fi/prtntlhi, Hawaiian Islands, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poise., 



xix, 194, 198, 1846. 



Cham* in<li<'ns, BLEEKER, Verb. Bat. Gen., xxiv, 11, 1852, East Indies. 

 Chanos saliuottKiis, GuxTHER, Cat., vn, 473, 1868. 



Family LX. DOBOSOMID.E. 

 (THE GIZZARD SHADS.) 



Body short and deep, strongly compressed, covered with thin, deciduous, 

 cycloid scales. Belly compressed to an edge, which is armed with bony 

 serratures. .Head naked, short, rather small. Mouth small, inferior, 

 oblique, overlapped by the blunt snout ; no teeth ; maxillary narrow and 

 short, with a single supplemental bone, not extending to opposite middle 

 of eye, and forming but a small portion of lateral margin of upper jaw ; 

 mandible short and deep, its rami enlarged at base; premaxillaries not 

 protractile. Gill rakers slender, exceedingly numerous, not very long, 

 similar on all the arches. Gill membranes not united, free from the 

 isthmus ; branchiostegals about 6 ; pseudobranchia? large. An adipose 

 eyelid. No lateral line. Dorsal fin about midway of the body, usually 

 behind ventrals. Pectorals and ventrals moderate, each with an accessory 

 scale. Anal very long and low ; caudal forked. No adipose fin. Ver- 

 tebrae 49. Stomach short, muscular, like the gizzard of a fowl. A single 

 genus in our waters ; species about 10. Mud-eating fishes of the coasts 

 and rivers of warm regions, of little value as food. The family is very 

 close to the Clupeida, the distinguishing characters being not of great 

 importance. (Ctywida;, group Chatoessina Giinther, Cat., vn, 406-411, 



1868.) 



202. DOROSOMA, Rafinesque. 



(GIZZARD SHAD.) 



Dorosoma, RAFINESQUE, Ichth. Oh., 39, 1820, (notala = cepedianum). 



Chatoessus, CUVIER, Regne Animal, Ed. 2, Vol. n, 320, 1829; in part, (includes Opisthonema, etc.). 



Chatoessus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Xat. Poiss., xxi, 94, 1848, (cepedianits). 



Characters of the family, with the addition that the last ray of the 

 dorsal is prolonged and filiform as in Opisthonema, Megalops, and Tarpon' 



