FAMILY ATHERINID^ — ATHERINA. 143 



Length five inches. 



Fin rays, D. 5.1.9; P. 15; V. 1.5; A. 1.25; C. 19. 



I am unacquainted with this species, and insert it on the authority of Cuvier and Valen- 

 ■ ciennes, who received it from New- York. For the figure, I have been indebted to Dr. Hol- 

 brook. It appears to be widely different from the preceding, by the distance of the dorsals 

 apart ; by the position of the second dorsal, which is far from being coterminal with the anal ; 

 by the more deeply excavated or crescent-shaped caudal, and by other particulars cited 

 above. 



I make a reference to Peck with much doubt. " This little fish," he says, " is called by 

 " Linneus, Atherina menidia, pinna ani radiis 24. It is four inches long, is semitransparent, 

 " and has a broad silvery line extending from the opening of the gills to the insertion of the 

 " tail. The tail is forked ; the iris silvery ; the back is marked in diamonds by dotted lines. 

 " It is found in great numbers in the river Piscataqua, in the montlis of August and Septem- 

 " ber. It feeds on minute aquatic insects of the monoculus kind, and is preyed upon by 

 " various fishes as well as by shelldrakes." 



The Green Silverside, Atherina viridescens of Mitchill, is evidently to me a young and 

 mutilated specimen of this species. With regard to the Atherina mordax, or large Silverside 

 of the same author, there is more difl[iculty. From its dental armature and adipose dorsal, 

 it cannot be arranged in this family. In his Report in part, he states that " it may be A. 

 " hrownii ; if it be so considered, we shall know it better for the future." I am not acquainted 

 with the species here referred to, but have no doubt that the mordax is the true Osmerus of 

 the family Salmonidae. I am disposed to believe that my late venerable friend has, by mis- 

 take, applied the description of Os??ierus eperlanus to this species. 



{EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



A. Carolina. (Cuv. et Val. Vol. 10, p. 445.) Snout pointed. Height to its total length, as one to 

 six and three-quarters. D. 8. 1. 12; A. 1. 16. Length four inches. SmthrCarolina. 



