202 FISHES. 



A. vulgaris; Clupea alosa, L., Duham., Sect. Ill, pi. 1, ft 1. 



(The Shad). Becomes a much larger and thicker fish than the 

 Herring, attaining a length of three feet; is distinguished by the ab- 

 sence of sensible teeth, and by an irregular black spot behind the 

 gills. It ascends the rivers in spring, and is then highly esteemed; 

 when taken at sea it is dry and of a disagreeable flavour. 



A.fnta, Cuv. ; Cl.finta, Lac; the Tenth of the Flemish; Agone 

 of Lombardy; Lachia, Alachia of Italy, &c. More elongated than 

 the Shad, and has well-marked teeth in both jaws; five or six black 

 spots along the flank. It is found as far as the Nile, but is greatly 

 inferior in its taste*. 



Chatoessus, Cuv. 



The Chatoessi are true Herrings, whose last dorsal ray is prolonged 

 into a filament. In some the jaws are equal, and the snout is not pro- 

 minent; the mouth small and without teeth j-. 



In others the snout is more prominent than the jaws, their mouth also 

 is small. The superior combs of the first branchia unite with those of 

 the opposite side, forming a very singular pennated point under the 

 palate \. 



Next to the true Herrings come some foreign genera, which approach 

 them in the trenchant and indented abdomen. 



Odontognathus, Lacep. — Gnathobolus, Schn., 



Have a strongly compressed body, with very acute dentations, as far as 

 the anus ; the anal long and low ; a very small brittle dorsal, which is 

 almost always destroyed ; six rays in the branchiae ; the maxillary some- 

 what extended into a point, and armed with two small teeth directed for- 

 wards; ventrals have never been perceived on it§. 



But a single species is known, that from Cayenne, the Odon- 

 tognathe aiguillonne, Lacep. II, vii, 2, which resembles a small Sar- 

 dine in form, but is still more compressed. 



* Bloch, pi. 30, under the name of Alosa, gives afinta, the posterior part of whose 

 abdomen had been deprived of scales. Add, CI. vernalis, Mitch. V, 9; — CI. cestivali*, 

 Id. V, 6; — CI. menhaden, Id. V, 7;— CI. matowaka, Id. V, 8;— CI. palasah, Cuv., Russ. 

 198; — CI. kelee, Id. 195; — Clupanodon il'tsha, Ham. Buch. XIX, 73; — Clupan. cham- 

 pole, H. Buch. XVIII, 74, and his other species, p. 246 — 251. 



The genera, Pomolobus, Dorosom a, Notemigonus of Rafin., (Ohio fishes), must 

 approach the Alosa more or less ; they have no teeth, but we are not sufficiently ac- 

 quainted with them to assign their definitive situation. 



t The Cailleu-tassard of the Antilles, (Clup. thrissa, Bl. 404, f. 3), Duham., Sect. 

 Ill, pi. xxxi, f. 3; — Peddalcome, Russ. 197; — Megalops oglina, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc. 

 Phil. I, 359; — A/, votatus, Id. 36;— M. cepedianus, Id., lb. 



X Clupea nasus, Bl. 427, or Kome, Russ. 196. 



§ M. de Lacepede having only seen one badly preserved specimen, thought that 

 its maxillaries naturally projected in front of the mouth like two horns; this, how- 

 ever, was an accidental circumstance, for they are placed in this genus as in all the 

 others. It is from this erroneous idea that he g;ive it the name of Gnathobolus, i. e. 

 shooting out its jaws. 



