ORDER II. BONY FISHES. MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 185 
a few in front of the vomer. Form is like that of the trout, and the body 
is of a brilliant, silvery color, with some greenish reflections, but withort 
spots. The only species known in this country is 
O. Eperlanus. —The Smelt. This is a pretty and delicious table-fish, and 
millions of them, taken with scoop-nets, are brought into our markets. 
Ciupripz. Lifth Family of the Malacopterygii Abdominales. 
The Clupeide have no adipose dorsal ; their bodies are always scaly, and 
most of them have an air-bladder. Several of the species ascend rivers, 
and all periodically approach the shores. It yields in commercial value only 
to the mackerel and the cod. We have, at the head of the family, the genus 
Ciurea. — Yarrell gives the following characteristics of the genus : — 
“ Body compressed ; scales large, thin, and deciduous ; head compressed ; 
teeth minute or wanting; a single dorsal fin; abdominal line forming a 
sharp, keel-like edge, which in some species is serrated.” 
C. Elongata. — This is the common English Herring of our markets. 
Tt is about a foot long, sometimes a little more. The color upon the back 
is of a deep blue, tinged with yellow, paler on the sides, and silvery on the 
belly. It is a fat, rich fish, and abounds in the Northern Atlantic, near 
the shores of both continents. Although the herring fishery in this country 
is of considerable importance, it does not hold the rank in our industrial 
and commercial affairs which it does in Europe. In a German work, I 
have found an article on this subject so interesting that [am tempted to in- 
troduce a synopsis of it here. 
“In mile-long shoals, often so thickly pressed that a spear cast into them 
would stand upright in the living stream, the common herring appears an- 
nually on the coasts of North-western Europe, pouring out the horn of 
abundance into all the lochs, lays, coves, and fiords, from Norway to Ire- 
land, and from Oreadia to Normandy. Sea-birds, without end, keep thin- 
ning their ranks during the whole summer; armies of rorquals, dolphins, 
seals, shell-fish, cods, and sharks devour them by millions, and yet, so 
countless are their numbers, that whole nations live upon their spoils. 
* As soon as the season of their approach appears, fleets of herring boats 
leave the northern ports, provided with drift nets, about twelve hundred feet 
long. The yarn is so thick that the wetted net sinks through its own weight, 
and need not be held down by stones attached to the lower edge, for it has 
been found that the herring is more easily caught in a slack net. The upper 
edge is suspended from the drift rope by various smaller and shorter ropes, 
called buoy ropes, to which empty barrels are fastened ; and the whole of the 
floating apparatus is attached by long ropes to the ship. Fishing takes place 
only during the night; for it is found that the fish strike the nets in much 
