CHAPTEE V. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE HERRING, IN ILLUSTRATION OF ITS 

 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Clupea. — Ou our coasts, of this genus there are the Glupea 

 harengus, or Herring ; Clupea pilcJiardus, Pilchard or 

 Gipsy-herring ; Clupea sprattus, Sprat — in Scotland, Gar- 

 vie ; and Clupea alba, or Whitebait. 



The specific characters of the herring, as distinguishing- 

 it from the other fishes of the genus, are, — the dorsal 

 or back fin is half-way between the point of the upper 

 jaw and the end of the longest ray of the caudal or 

 tail fin, and the ventral or belly fin is under the dorsal fin. 



The Sprat is known from the young herring by having 

 the belly serrated or supplied with bony points, in number 

 thirty-three, and the ventral fins nearer the head. In 

 the young herring the head falls off more in a straight 

 line from the back, and the body is more flattened in the 

 sides than that of the sprat ; the full-grown sprat is also 

 much broader and rounder in the belly than a young her- 

 ring of the same length, and has the milt or roe formed 

 in it at the spawning season, which the young herring 

 of a similar size of course has not. 



