260 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



it is pronounced by our Dutch inhabitants, Morsebonkers), Panhagen and Menhaden ; the 

 last beino- the name given by the Manhattans, and Panhagen (pronounced panhangen) the 

 Narraganset epithet. At the east end of the island, they are called Skippangs or Bunkers. 

 Although seldom eaten, as it is dry, without flavor and full of bones, yet it is one of the most 

 valuable fish found within our waters. Its use as a manure is well known in the counties of 

 Suffolk, Kings and Queens, where it is a source of gi-eat wealth to the farmer who hves upon 

 the seacoast. They are used in various ways : for indian corn, two or three are thrown on 

 a hill ; for wheat, they are thrown broadcast on the field, and ploughed under ; although it is 

 not uncommon to put them in layers alternately with common mould, and when decomposed, 

 spread it like any other compost. Its effects in renovating old grass fields, when spread over 

 with these fish at the rate of about two thousand to the acre, are very remarkable. Its value, 

 however, as a manure, has one drawback in the abominable and uiJiealthy stench which poi- 

 sons the whole country, and according to the testimony of some medical writers, lays the 

 foundation of dysenteries and autumnal fevers. They appear on the shores of Long island 

 about the beginning of June, in immense scholes ; and as they frequently swim with a part 

 of the head above or near the surface of the water, they are readily seen and captured. They 

 are commonly sold on the spot at the rate of two dollars the waggon load, containing about a 

 thousand fish. The largest haul I remember to have heard of, was through the surf at Bridge- 

 hampton, at the east end of the island. Eighty-four waggon loads, or in other words, 84,000 

 of these fish, were taken at a single haul. On the coast of Massachusetts, they are used as 

 bait for mackerel, cod and halibut ; and many are packed away for exportation to the West 

 Indies. According to Dr. Storer, in 1836, 1488 barrels were thus salted down for exportation. 

 I am not aware that its geographical limits pass beyond the coast of New-Hampshire on 

 one side, and Chesapeake bay on the other. 



AUTUMNAL HERRING. 



Alosa mattowacca. 



PLATE XL. FIG. 127. 



Clupea mattowaca, Long Island Herring. Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. -151. 

 C mcdiocriSf Staten Islantl Herring, 



Characteristics. Silvery, with a series of dark rounded spots on the sides. Tongue with a 

 band of teeth. Caudal pouches. Length one to two feet. 



Description. General form of the herrings. Height to the total length as one to four. 

 Back regularly arched throughout. Scales large, deciduous, rounded, with minute concentric 

 striai, and extending high up on the lobes of the caudal. Belly convex, serrated ; fifteen 

 spines behind the ventrals, and twenty-two in front. Eyes large, prominent ; the margin of 

 the orbits in the facial line. Nostrils slightly nearest the snout. Upper jaw with a deep 

 emargination. Lower jaw longest, with a small prominence at its tip. Tongue free, elevated 

 in the centre, obtusely pointed, with a band of asperities in its centre, comj^osed of minute 



