320 PISCES. 



laries, ion? pointed teeth on the jaws, the palatals, and on the tongue and pharynx, but none on the vomer; eight 

 or nine, often twelve or fifteen, gill-rays : the first dorsal a little behind the large ventrals ; the body, cheeks, and 

 gill lid are scaly, the intestines like those of Trouts. They are marine fishes, and exceedingly voracious. One is 

 found in the Mediterranean, a transparent one in the lake of Mexico, and several in India, where they are dried 

 and salted as a relish. 



Scopelus, have the gape and the gill openings very deep. Both jaws with very small teeth, the margin of the 

 upper formed entirely by the intermaxillaries, the tongue and palate smooth, muzzle very short and blunt, nine 

 or ten gill-rays, a first dorsal between the ventrals and anal, and a second, in which there are slight vestiges of 

 rays. One small species in the Mediterranean has brilliant silver spots on the belly and tail. 



Aulopus, combines the characters of Salmon and Cod. Their gape is wide, their intermaxillaries forming the 

 whole margin of the upper jaw ; their palatals, the front part of the vomer, and the lower jaw with a band of card- 

 shaped teeth, but the tongue and flat part of the palate are only rough. The maxillaries are large and toothless, 

 as in many fishes, their ventrals are under the pectorals, with the external rays thick and unforked. The first 

 dorsal answers to the first half of the space between the ventrals and anal. They have twelve gill-rays, and large 

 scales upon the cheeks, gill-lids, and body. One species inhabits the Mediterranean. 



Sternoptyx, are little fishes with high compressed body, the mouth directed upwards, their humeral bones 

 forming a trenchant crest forwards, and terminating below in a little spine. The pelvis formed by a small spine 

 before the ventrals. There are small grooves on each side of the pelvic crest, which has been considered as a ster- 

 num, and hence their name. They have an osseous crest before the first dorsal, and a little membrane answering to 

 the second. The borders of the mouth are formed by the maxillaries. Two species are found in the Atlantic, which 

 may become types of two distinct genera. One of these has five gill-rays, the other nine. 



THE FIFTH FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 

 Clupeid^ (the Herring Family). 



These have no adipose dorsal, and, as the Trout, they have their upper jaw formed in the middle by 

 intermaxillaries without peduncles, and the sides by maxillaries. Their bodies are always scaly, and 

 most of them have an air bladder and many coeca. Few of them ascend rivers, though they appear 

 periodically upon the shores. 



Clupea, the Herrings, have the intermaxillaries narrow and short, forming but a small portion of the 

 jaw, which is completed on the«sides by protractile maxillaries. The lower edge of the compressed 

 body is notched by scales, resembling the teeth of a saw. The gill openings are so wide that the fishes 

 die almost the instant they are out of the water. The gill arches towards the mouth pectinated, the 

 stomach is an elongated sac, the air bladder long and pointed, and their bones are very slender and 

 numerous. They consist of several subgenera. 



Clupea, Herrings properly so called, with the mouth mean-sized, and the upper lip entire. C. harengus needs 

 no description ; it appears periodically in numerous shoals, [but does not breed in the Polar seas, as was once 

 stated, as it gets southward into warm latitudes. Its flesh is dry and inferior]. C. sprattus resembles the Herring, 

 but is much smaller. C. alba, White Bait, a small and delicate species, resorts to the top of the brackish water 

 to mature its spawn. It is found in various estuaries, and is highly esteemed. C. pilchardus is about the size of 

 the Herring, but has the dorsal more forward. It inhabits more southernly than the Herring, and is caught in 

 vast numbers on the coast of Cornwall. C. sardiiia, the Sardine, is like the Pilchard, only smaller. It is taken 

 in the Mediterranean, where the Herring is unknown, and also on the west coast of France. Its flavour is highly 

 esteemed. 



Alosa, has a notch in the middle of the upper jaw, but is in other respects like the Pilchard and Sardine. A. vul- 

 garis, the Shad, is much larger and thicker than the Herring, growing to three feet in length, and it has no teeth, 

 and a black spot behind the gills. In spring it ascends rivers, when it is much esteemed ; but when taken in the 

 seals dry and disagreeable. A. fin/a, the Twaite Shad, has teeth in the jaws, and five or six dark spots along the 

 side. It is the Common Shad of the British rivers ; hut is considered inferior to the Common Shad, or Alice Shad, 

 as it is called, which, as a British fish, is by no means so common. 



Chatoessus, resembles a Herring, only the first dorsal ray is prolonged in the filament. Some have the jaws 

 equal, the muzzle not prominent, and the mouth small and without teeth. Others have the muzzle prominent, but 

 the mouth small. The fibres of the first gills unite with those on the opposite side, and form under the palate 

 curious pinnated points. These are from the warm seas, and they complete the subgenera of Clupea as at present 

 arranged, though the following come appropriately after the Herrings, inasmuch as they have the belly sharp and 

 notched. 



Odontognathus, have the body very compressed, with three sharp teeth near the vent, a long but narrow anal, 

 a small and feeble dorsal, which is always broken, six gill-rays, the maxillaries prolonged and a little pointed, and 

 furnished with small teeth directed forwards, and I'o apparent ventrals. One species from Cayenne is known, 

 resembling a small Sardine, but having the body more compressed. 



Prisfigaster, head and teeth as in the Herrings, four gill-rays, ventrals generally wanting, belly compressed, 

 arched, and toothed. They are found in both oceans. 



