FAMILY SALMONID^ — OSMERUS. 243 



S.gairdneri. (Id. p. 221.) Dorsal line nearly straight, unspotted. Ash grey on the sides ; belly white. 



Length 2-3 feet. Columbia River. 

 S. canadensis. (Grif Cuv. Vol. 10, p. 474, pi. 41.) White circular spots along the sides, with a red 



central dot. Pectoral, anal and caudal barred with black. Length ten inches. St. Lawrence. 



GENUS OSMERUS. Cuvier. 



Branchial membrane with only eight rays. Teeth on the jaws and tongue, very long and 

 sharp ; two distinct rows on each palatine bone. Anal Jin with more than fourteen rows. 



THE AMERICAN SMELT. 



OSMERCS VIRIDESCENS. 



PLATE XXXIX. FIG. 124. 



Smelt, Sctlmo eperlanus. MiTCHiLL, Report in part, p. 12. 

 Salmo id.. Smelt. Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. Vol. 1, p. 435. 

 Osmerus viridescens. Lesuedr, Jour. Acad, Nat. Sc. Vol. 1, p. 230. 

 The Smelt, 0. viridescens. Stoker, Mass. Report, p. 108. 



Characteristics. Greenish above ; silvery beneath, with a longitudinal band. Stomach with 

 a few short caeca. Length 6-12 inches. 



Description. Body elongated, cylindrical, tapering gradually towards the head and tail. 

 Scales large, oval, concentrically striate. Lateral line straight, not concurrent with the line 

 of the back. Head rather more than one-fifth of the total length, sloping, smooth. Nostrils 

 large, double, contiguous, nearly equidistant between the eyes and end of the snout. Dis- 

 tance from the tip of the snout to the posterior margin of the opercle 2.5. Eyes large. 

 Lower jaw longer than the upper, armed with strong, acute, recurved teeth ; labial finely 

 serrated. Tongue with two or three long teeth on each side, with a larger one in front near 

 the tip ; palatines with a row of smaller teeth. The vomer with asperities in front. 



The first dorsal commences at a point midway between the base of the caudal fin and the 

 tip of the snout ; its height equal to twice the length of its base ; the two first rays simple, 

 the first very short, the second longest, thence very gradually diminishing to the last. The 

 adipose dorsal long and narrow, nearer the base of the caudal than to the last rays of the first 

 dorsal, and over the posterior third of the anal. Pectorals pointed and fan-shaped ; its first ray 

 simple, short and dark-colored. Venlrals broad, with multifid rays, arising under the first 

 ray of the dorsal fin. Anal long, with subequal rays, the anterior being slightly longest. 

 Caudal forked. The parietes of the abdomen silvery. Ovaries of a bright sulphur-yellow. 

 Liver moderate. Stomach cylindrical, with a few short caeca. (The absence of cjecal ap- 

 pendages in the European species has, by some European writers, been made a part of the 

 generic phrase.) Air-bladder oblong, linear, slightly dilated at its anterior extremity, wliere 

 it terminates in a short tube communicating with the oesophagus. In the stomach, remains 

 of shrimps and an atherine. 



