FAMILY SALMONIDiE — OSMERUS. 243 



S. gairdneri. (Id. p.221.) Dorsal line nearly straight, unspotted. Ash grey on the sides ; belly white. 



Length 2-3 feet. Columbia River. 

 S. canadensis. (Grif. Cuy. Vol. 10, p. 474, pi. 41.) White circular spots along the sides, with a red 



central dot. Pectoral, anal and caudal barred with black. Length tt.ii inches. St. haicreiicc. 



GENUS OSMERUS. Cuvier. 



Branchial memhrane with oiily eight rays. Teeth on the jaws and tongue, very long and 

 sharp ; two distinct rows on each palatine hone. Analfm with more than fourteen rows. 



THE AMERICAN SMELT. 



OsMERDS VmiDESCENS. 



PLATE XXXIX. FIG. 124. 



Smelt, Salmo tperlanus. Mitchill, Report in part, p. 12. 

 Salmo td.. Smelt. Id. Trans. Lit, and Phil. Soc. N. Y. Vol. 1, p. 435. 

 Osmenis viridescens. Lesueur, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. Vol. 1, p. 230. 

 The Smelt, O. viridesceris. Stoker, Mass. Report, p. 108. 



Characteristics. Greenish above ; silvery beneath, with a longitudinal band. Stomach with 

 a few short ca:ca. Length 6-12 inches. 



Description. Body elongated, cylindrical, tapering gradually towards the liead and tail. 

 Scales large, oval, concentrically striate. Lateral line straight, not concurrent with the line 

 of the back. Head rather more than one-fifth of the total length, sloping, smooth. Nostrils 

 large, double, contiguous, nearly equidistant between the eyes and end of the snout. Dis- 

 tance from the tip of the snout to tlie jiostcrior margin of the opercle 2. -5. Eyes large. 

 Lower jaw longer than the upper, armed with strong, acute, recurved teeth ; labial finely 

 serrated. Tongue with two or three long teeth on each side, with a larger one in front near 

 the tip ; palatines with a row of smaller teeth. The vomer with asperities in front. 



The first dorsal commences at a point midway between the base of the caudal fin and the 

 tip of the snout ; its height equal to twice the length of its base ; the two first rays simple, 

 the first very short, the second longest, thence very gradually diminishing to the last. The 

 adipose dorsal long and narrow, nearer the base of the caudal than to the last rays of die first 

 dorsal, and over the posterior third of the anal. Pectorals pointed and fan-shaped ; its first ray 

 simple, short and dark-colored. Ventrals broad, with multifid rays, arising under the first 

 ray of the dorsal fin. Anal long, with subequal rays, the anterior being shghtly longest. 

 Caudal forked. The parietes of the abdomen silvery. Ovaries of a bright sulphur-yellow. 

 Liver moderate. Stomach cylindrical, with a few short csca. (The absence of ca^cal ap- 

 pendages in the European species has, by some European wi-iters, been made a part of the 

 generic phrase.) Air-bladder oblong, linear, slightly dilated at its anterior extremity, wliere 

 it terminates in a short tube communicating with the oesophagus. In the stomach, remains 

 of shrimps and an atherine. 



