Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 525 



795. HYPOMESUS PRETIOSUS (Girard). 

 (SURF SMELT.) 



Head 4 ; depth 4f ; eye as long as snout, 4| in head. D. 10; A. 15 j P. 

 14; V. 8; scales 70. Fins low, the longest dorsal ray 8 in length 

 without caudal ; pectorals scarcely reaching halfway to ventrals, 7 in 

 length of hody; ventrals not reaching vent, their length 8 in body. 

 Light olivaceous ; a silvery band along the lateral line. Length 12 

 inches. Coast of California and Oregon, from Monterey northward ; 

 abundant, spawning in the surf. A firm-fleshed and fat little fish of deli- 

 cate flavor, scarcely inferior to the eulachon. (pretiosus, precious.) 

 Argentina pretiosa, GIHARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 155, San Francisco. 

 Osmi-nts eJotigatits, AYRES, Proc. Cal. Ac. Nat. Sci., 1854, 17, San Francisco. 

 Osin,;-n* pi-fthsm, GIRARD, Pac. R. R Surv., x, 324, 1858. 

 Hypomesus pretiosu*, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 294, 1883. 



796. HYPOMESUS OLID US (Pallas). 

 (POND SMELT.) 



Scales 56 to 60. Fins nigher than in Hypomesus pretiosus, the longest 

 dorsal ray 6 in length of body ; pectorals reaching the distance to root 

 of ventrals, their length 5 in body ; ventrals 6 in length of body. Color- 

 ation dusky, little translucent. Alaska and Kamchatka, spawning in 

 fresh-water ponds, excessively abundant about St. Michaels. A sweet 

 little fish, excellent as food, (olidus, oily.) 



Salmo (Osmerus) olidus, PALLAS, Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat., in, 391. 1811, lakes and rivers of Kam- 

 chatka. 



Mesopus olidus, GUNTHER, Cat., vi, 169, 1866; in part. 



Hypomesus olidus, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 295, 1883; TURNER, Contr. Nat. Hist. Alaska, 

 103, 1886. 



243. ARGENTINA (Artedi) Linnssus. 



(ARGENTINES.) 



Argentina (ARTEDl) LINN;EUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 1758, 315, (sphyrnend). 

 Silus,* REINHARDT, Bemairkinger Skandinavisk Icththyol., 11, 1833, (silus). 

 Acantholepis, KROYER, Danmarks Fiske, in, 98, 1846-' 49, (silm). 



Body oblong, covered with rather large cycloid scales, which are more 

 or less rough with spinous points. Mouth small, the maxillaries very 

 short, not reaching to the eye; eye very large. Jaws toothless; an 

 arched series of minute teeth on the head of the vomer and on the fore 

 part of the palatine ; tongue with a series of small curved teeth on each 

 side. Dorsal fin short, in advance of the ventrals; caudal fin deeply 

 forked. Eggs small. Pyloric coeca present. Branchiostegals 6. Air 

 bladder, according! to Cuvier, without duct. Fishes of deep or cold 

 waters, never entering fresh streams. (Latin argentum, silver.) 



a. Scales spinigerous; body deep, the depth 5 to 5% in length; eye longer than snout; scales 

 small, CO to 66. SILUS, 797. 



*The genus Sihis (Norwegian Sil or Sild, herring) is founded on a species with spinescent 

 scales. But it is not certain that any species has really smooth scales, and in Argentina sphyrfena, 

 the type of the genus, according to Day, the scales are provided with stellate spinules. 



t This alleged character needs verification. 



