434 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



schools, probably spawning in brackish water. Held in no esteem as a 

 food-fish, but very valuable for oil and manure, (tyrannus, rvpavvos, ruler.*) 



Clupea tyrannic, LATROBE, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. Phila., v, 1802, 77, pi. 1, Chesapeake Bay. 

 Clupea menhaden, MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y., i, 1815, 453, New York ; 



GUNTHER, Cat., vn, 436, 1868. 



Clupea neglecta, RAFINESQUE, Amer. Monthly Mag., 1818, 206, Long Island. 

 Clupea carolinensis, GEONOW, Cat. Fishes, 140, 1854, South Carolina. 

 Alosa menhaden, STOKER, Hist. Fishes Mass., 337, 1867. 

 Brevoorlia tyrannns, GOODE, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., i, 1878, 531 ; GOODE, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm., 



v, 1877 (1879), 19; complete biography ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 269, 1883. 



Represented on the coast of Brazil by 



705a. BREVOORTIA TYRANNUS AUREA (Agassiz). 



Opercles almost smooth ; head rather shorter, jaws shorter and body 

 deeper, the scales more regularly arranged than in Brevoortia tyrannus. 

 Coast of Brazil, (aureus, golden.) 

 Clupanodon aureus, AGASSIZ, Spix, Pise. Brasil, 52, 1828, Brazil. 

 Clupea aurea, GUNTHER, Cat., vn, 437, 1868. 



Occasional specimens taken along the Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States represent 



705b. BREVOORTIA TYRANNUS BREVICAIJDATA, Goode. 



Similar to aurea, but the jaws and caudal shorter, the latter not longer 

 than pectorals. Noank, Connecticut, and south. (Goode.) (brevis 

 short; caudatus, tailed.) 



Brevoortia tyrannus brevicaudata, GOODE, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1878, 34, Noank, Connecticut. 

 (Type, No. 14846, a. b. Coll. Goode.) 



The common form on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico is 



705c. BREVOORTIA TYRANNUS PATRONUS, Goode. 

 (GULF MENHADEN.) 



Head 3; depth 2f. D. 19; A. 22; lateral line 50 to 65. Head larger 

 than in B. tyrannus ; fins long, the height of the dorsal greater than the 

 length of the maxillary ; that of the anal more than half the height of the 

 maxillary. Pectorals reaching beyond front of ventrals; insertion of 

 dorsal in front of ventrals, just behind the middle point between the 

 snout and the base of the caudal. Scales moderate, with their margins 

 entire, fluted. Axillary appendages large ; large scales at base of pec- 

 toral. Operculum delicately striated. Greenish-gray above; sides sil- 

 very, with brassy luster ; scapular blotch inconspicuous. Gulf of Mexico, 

 generally abundant on the Florida Coast, apparently varying into B. 

 tyrannus. (patronus, patron, in allusion to the ever present Crustacean, 

 Cymothoa proegustator. ) 



Brevoortia patronus, GOODE, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., i, 1878, 39, Brazos, Santiago. (Type, No. 

 892, a. b.). GOODE, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm., v, 1877 (1879), 19 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Syn- 

 opsis, 269, 1883. 



*A parasitic Crustacean ( Cymothoa prsegustator, LATROBE) is found in the mouths of a very 

 large proportion of the individuals of this species. The specific names both of the fish and the 

 Crustacean refer to this peculiarity, the ancient Roman rulers (tyranni) having had their tasters 

 (prsegustatores) to taste their food before them to prove itsharmlessness, thus to prevent poisoning. 



