234 PISCES. 



illaries, that constitute but a small portion of the upper jaw, the 

 sides of which are completed by the maxillaries, so that these sides 

 are alone protractilej and in the inferior edge of the body, which is 

 compressed, and where the scales form notches resembling those of 

 a saw. The maxillaries, besides, are divided into three parts. The 

 branchiae are so much cleft, that all the fishes of the genus are said 

 to die instantly when taken from the water. The sides of the bran- 

 chial rays next to the mouth are pectiniform. The stomach is an 

 elongated sac; the natatory bladder long and pointed, and the casca 

 numerous. Of all fishes, these have the finest and most numerous 

 bones. 



Clupea, Cuv. 



The maxillaries arcuated before, and longitudinally divisible in 

 several pieces; opening of the mouth moderate; upper lip entire or 

 not emarginated. 



C. harenguS', L. Bl., 29, 1. (The Common Herring.) Teeth 

 visible in both jaws; carina of the abdomen but slightly marked; 

 suboperculum rounded; veins on the suborbital, preoperculum and 

 upper part of the operculum. The ventrals arise from under the 

 middle of the dorsal; the length of the head is one-fifth of that 

 of the whole fish, and by transferring backwards the measure 

 of the distance from the snout to the first dorsal, it marks the 

 middle of the caudal. There are sixteen rays in the anal. 



This celebrated fish leaves the Arctic seas every summer and 

 descends in autumn on the western coast of France in number- 

 less legions, or rather in solid shoals of incalculable extent, 

 spauningon their way, and arriving at the mouth of the British 

 channel in the middle of winter, in a very extenuated condition. 

 Whole fleets are occupied in this fishery, the extent and import- 

 ance of which are too well known to need a comment. The 

 best are those taken in the North; such as are caught on the 

 coast of Lower Normandy are lean, dry, and of a disagreeable 

 flavour. 



C. sprafius, Bl. 29, 2. (The Sprat.) The proportions of the 

 Herring, but a much smaller fish; no veins on the opercula; a 

 gilt band along the flanks in the spawning season. (1) 



a latuhis, Cuv. Schonefeldt, p. 41. (The White-Bait.) The 

 body more compressed and the abdomen more trenchant than 

 in the Herring; height of the body and length of the head, each 



(1) Artedi and his successors have confounded the Sprat with the Sard! 



