ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGIANS. 201 



Herring; height of the body and length of the head each one-fourth 

 of the whole length of the fish ; the dorsal more forwards, the anal 

 longer, and approaching nearer to the caudal. A very small fish, of 

 the most brilliant silver colour, with a little black spot on the end of 

 the snout * (a). 



C. pilchardus, Bl. 406; and better, Will. pi. 1, f. 1. (The Pil- 

 chard of the English, the Celan of the French). About the size of 

 the Herring, but with larger scales ; the suboperculum square ; ra- 

 diated stria? on the preoperculum and operculum ; the head shorter 

 in proportion than that of the Herring, and the dorsal more forward, 

 so that the distance from the snout to the dorsal does not reach the 

 caudal. The ventrals arise from under the end of the dorsal ; there 

 are eighteen rays in the anal, and on each side of the caudal are ex- 

 tended two scales longer than the rest. It is preferred to the Her- 

 ring, particularly on the western coast of England (Z»). 



C. sardina, Cuv. ; Duham., Sect. Ill, pi. xvi, f. 4. (The Sar- 

 dine). So similar to the Pilchard, that the only perceptible differ- 

 ence is its inferior size. It is celebrated for the extreme delicacy of 

 its flavour, and the numbers which are taken on the coast of Brit- 

 tany. It is also captured in the Mediterranean, where the Herring 

 is unknown "f-. The 



Alosa, Cuv., 



Are distinguished from the Herrings, properly so called, by an emargina- 

 tion of the middle of the upper jaw; all the other characters are those 

 of the Pilchard and Sardine. 



* Species allied in form to the latulus: the Cailleu, (CI. clupeola, Cuv.), Duham., 

 Sect. 1 1 1, pi. xxxi, f. 3 ; — the Sardine de la Martinique, ( CI. humeralis, Cuv.), Duham., 

 lb., f. 4; — CI. melanura, Cuv., Lacep. V, xi, 3, under the name of Clupanudon Jussieu, 

 but the description of which belongs to fig. xi, 3, called a variety of the Clwpanodon 

 chinois ;- — CI. coval, Cuv., Russ. 186, &c. 



f We may also separate from the true Herrings the Jangartoo, Russel, 191, or the 

 Clupea mela.itoma, Schn. ; and his Dilchcve, 192, which have the dorsal posterior to the 

 ventrals, and a long anal. 



(•gp° (17) A great difference of opinion exists amongst British naturalists as to 

 the true nature of the White-Bait of the Thames; Pennant considered this fish as an 

 appendage to the Bleak (Ci/prinus alburnus); Shaw regarded it as a Carp. Drs. Tur>- 

 ton, Fleming, and Mr. Donovan, were of opinion that the White-Bait is the fry of 

 the Shad, (Clupea alosa); and this impression had been universally received until 

 1828, when Mr. Yarrell commenced a minute anatomical examination of the fish. It is 

 well known that the number of the vertebrae forms one of the most distinctive charac- 

 ters of fishes, and Mr. Yarrell sought accordingly if this number corresponded be- 

 tween the Shad and the White-Bait. In the numerous specimens examined by him 

 of the latter, he uniformly found the number of the vertebra 1 to be fifty-six, whilst in 

 the Shad it was as invariably fifty-five. — Eng. Ed. 



Iggp" (b) The Pilchard fishery is exclusively carried on on the coast of Cornwall, 

 where the fishes are cured and dried, and nearly altogether exported to the Mediter- 

 ranean. The apparatus employed for catching the fish is peculiar: it is called a 

 " seine," and consists of three boacs, the crews of which have the management of an 

 immense net, that can take upwards of five millions of the fish in a single draught. 

 Formerly there were bounties upon the Pilchards, as also on the Herrings; but they 

 have been removed from both, a circumstance which has contributed to the decline 

 of our British Channel fisheries. To this discouragement there is added, in the case 

 of the Pilchard fishery, an increased import duty imposed by the government at 

 Naples, which has hitherto been the principal market for this fish. — Eng. Ed. 



