114 FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



seeming to form one large plate. Lower jato rather projecting 

 beyond the upper. Diameter of the eye equal to one sixth the 

 length of the head. Tail forked. 



The fin rays are : D. 10; P. 15; Y. 5; A. 12; C. 18. 



Alosa. Cuv. 



Generic characters. Upper jaw loith a deep notch in the 

 centre ; in other respects like the Clupea. 



A. vernalis. Mitchell. The spring Herring or Aleioive. 



Although in several portions of the state where the alewives 

 have heretofore been most abundant, the various encroach- 

 ments of man have sensibly diminished them, they are still 

 taken in some places in immense numbers. A larger quantity 

 of alewives is packed than of any other species of this family. 

 In 1832, 1730 barrels were inspected; 1833, 2,266; 1834, 

 4,320 ; 1835, 5,600 ; 1836, 5000. 



At Watertown, the average quantity of alewives for the last 

 ten years, is 700 barrels. They are first pickled, then salted 

 and barrelled, and sent to the West India Islands. They sell 

 for from ^1.50 to f 2.00 per barrel. At Taunton, which for years 

 was so celebrated for its fishery, the alewives are gradually 

 lessening. There are two or more dams across the Taunton 

 "Great Miver,'' so called, which impedes their progress very 

 much ; and on the "Little River," where many dams and fac- 

 tories have been erected, and where, twenty years ago thou- 

 sands were taken, not one now is to be seen. Twenty-five years 

 since they were taken in such abundance at Taunton, that 

 they sold for 20 cents per hundred, and a great business was 

 carried on in barrelling and shipping them to the West India 

 market. At the present time, when first taken, they sell for 

 100 cents per hundred, and, as the season advances, diminish 

 gradually in price to 50 cents. Most of the fish are dis- 

 posed of at the seines, (fresh,) and cured by the purchasers. 

 In the Merrimack river too, they have been diminishing in 

 number for the last five or ten years ; the fishermen think this 



