416 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



a character which separates Dorosoma from the Asiatic genus Anodontos- 

 toma. (dbpv, lance ; oti^a, body ; in allusion to form of body in the young.) 



a. Anal rays 30 to 33; lower jaw included. CEPEDIANUM, 677. 

 aa. Anal rays 20 to 25; jaws subequal. 



b. Dorsal fin inserted just behind ventrals; 9 scutes behind ventrals. MEXICANUM, 678. 



66. Dorsal fin inserted just before ventrals; 12 scutes behind ventrals. PETENENSE, 679. 



77. DOROSOMA CEPEDIANUM (Le Sueur). 

 (GIZZARD SHAD; HICKORY SHAD.) 



Head 4J ; depth 2$ ; eye 4i. D. 12 j A. 31 ; scales 56-23 ; scutes 17+ 12. 

 Body deep, compressed, the back elevated in the adults. Dorsal about 

 median, slightly behind ventrals, its filamentous ray about as long as 

 head, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Caudal widely forked, the 

 lower lobe the longer. Silvery ; bluish above ; young with a round dark 

 spot at the shoulder ; tips of ventrals and edge of anal often dusky. 

 Length 15 inches. Cape Cod to Mexico ; abundant southward, entering 

 all rivers, and permanently resident (var. Jieterurum) everywhere in the 

 Mississippi Valley in the larger streams ; also introduced into Lake Mich- 

 igan and Lake Erie, and landlocked in ponds from New Jersey to Texas. 

 A handsome fish, of no value as food. (Named for Bernard Germain fitienne 

 de la Ville sur Illon, Comte de La Ce"pede (1756-1825), known as Citoyen 

 Lacepede during the French Revolution ; a brilliant and most industrious 

 writer, who compiled his great Histoire Naturelle des Poissons under most 

 difficult conditions during the French revolution.) 



Megalops cepediana, LE SUEUR, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., i, 1818, 361, Delaware and Chesa- 

 peake bays. 



Clvpea heterura, RAFINESQUE, Amer. Monthly Mag., 1818, 354, Ohio River. 



Dorosoma notoJa, RAFINESQUE, Ichth. Oh., 39, 1820, Ohio River. 



CJiatoessHs ellipticus, KIRTLAND, Report Zool. Ohio, 169, 1839, Ohio River. 



Dorosoma imocidbilis, ABBOTT, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, 365, Sturgeon Pond, Trenton, 

 New Jersey. 



Chato'essus cepedianus, GUNTHER, Cat., vn, 409, 1868. 



Dorosoma cepedianum, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 271, 1883. 



Represented along coast and in lower courses of rivers of Texas by 

 677a. DOROSOMA CEPEDIANUM EXILE, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Body elongate, the depth about one-third the length, (exilis, slender.) 



Dorosoma cepedianum exile, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 585, Galveston. 

 (Type, No. 30913. Coll. Jordan.) 



678. DOROSOMA MEXICANUM (Giinther) 



Head 3; depth 2f ; eye 4. D. 14; A. 25; scales 40-13. Maxillary 

 extending to below front of eye, which is equal to snout; jaws equal. 

 Dorsal inserted just behind ventrals, its filament reaching end of anal; 

 nine scutes behind ventrals. Silvery, with a small black humeral spot. 

 East coast of Mexico. (Giinther.) 



Chatoessus mexicanut, GATHER, Cat., vn, 409, 1868, Mexico. (Coll. M. Salle.) 

 Dorosoma mexicanum, JOEDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 887, 1883. 



