278 Mr. Yarrcll on a new species of Herring. 



shoals at the mouth of the Thames, may be taken in corroboration, 

 for had they matured and deposited any roe, they would, like the adult of 

 their own species, have experienced the same necessity for retiring to deep 

 water. 



The Herring, however, which it is now my object to particularise, is 

 at this time, January 31st, heavy with roe, which, from the appearance 

 of the fish, will not be deposited till the middle of February. I have 

 been told that Dr. Leach has often stated that our coast produced a second 

 species of Herring, but I am not aware that any notice of it has ever 

 appeared. In order, however, to identify the name of so distinguished 

 a naturalist with a fish of which perhaps he was the first observer, I pro- 

 pose the name of Clupea Leachii for this species, and describe it as 

 follows. Much deeper in proportion to its length than our common Her- 

 rings : the adult fish measuring but 8 inches long, is 1 inch ^- deep, and 

 has both dorsal and abdominal line much more convex ; a common 

 Herring of 1 inch | deep would measure lOJ inches in length. The under 

 jaw in the new species is provided with three or four prominent teeth 

 placed just within the angle formed by the symphysis. The superior 

 maxillae have their edges slightly crenated ; the eye is large, and the fish, 

 after it has been dead two or three days, exhibits the red appearance about 

 the orbits and opercula, so well known to occur both in the common 

 Herring and Sprat ; the dorsal fin is placed behind the centre of gravity, 

 but not so much so as in the common Herring ; the scales are smaller 

 without any distinct lateral line; the back and sides are deep blue, with 

 green reflections, passing into silvery white beneath ; and the edge of the 

 belly is carinated, but without serration. Besides some slight but con- 

 stant differences in the relative number of the fin rays, there is also a 

 difference in the number of the vertebrae, — thus 



The flesh of the new species also differs from that of the common Her- 

 ring in flavour, and is much more mild. 



Of the viscera in this species, the liver is small ; the stomach narrow 

 and elongated, vnth its inferior extremity attached to the membrane investing 



