NO. l8 MENHADEN, GENUS BREVOORTIA — HILDEBRAND 



II 



Brevoortia tyr annus brevicandata Goode, 1879, p. 22, Noank, Conn, (said to 

 vary from "normal" type of tyranmis in having a shorter maxillary, a shorter 

 mandible, lower anal, and shorter caudal). — Jordan and Evermann, 1896, 

 p. 434 (compared with aurea, after Goode). — Jordan, Evermann, and 

 Clark, 1930, p. 44 (range; synonymy). 



Study material. — G. Brown Goode (1878b) in his revision of the 

 genus Brevoortia, reported certain specimens from Noank, Conn., as 

 differing from the local "normal" tyrannus in several respects, and 

 as closely related to aurea, a South American menhaden. He desig- 

 nated the Noank specimens a variety of tyrannus, naming it hrevi- 

 caudata because of the very short caudal fin. I have examined eight 



r-^-" 



Fig. 2. — Brevoortia brevicandata, based on the lectotype, a specimen 180 mm. 

 in total length, 145 mm. in standard length (U.S.N.M. No. 129797), from 

 Noank, Conn. 



specimens from Noank, Conn. The same ones were studied, at least 

 in part, by Goode, who gave in a table of measurements and enumera- 

 tions the National Museum number 14846, which one of the two lots 

 still bears. These specimens (U.S.N.M. Nos. 14044 and 14846), col- 

 lected in 1874, are still the only ones of their kind in the collections 

 (mostly in the National Museum) studied. It is indeed strange that 

 no others like them have been noticed. 



Relationship. — B. hrevicaudata cannot be a geographical variant, as 

 typical tyranmis also occur in the general vicinity of Noank, Conn. 

 The specimens from Noank, in fact, differ in so many characters from 

 tyrannus, some of which show no intergradation, that it becomes 

 necessary to recognize them as representing a distinct species. The 

 distinguishing characters of hrevicaudata and tyrannus are shown in 

 the parallel comparison that follows. To make the comparison a fair 

 one specimens of about equal size and all from the general vicinity 

 of Noank, Conn., were used. The differences would be even greater 



