FISHES COLLECTED IN JAPAN. 279 



47. CLTJPEA MELASTOMA, Temm. and Schleg. 



Clupba Melastoma? Schneider, (Blocli.,) 427. 



Clupea Melastoma, T. and S., Faun. Jap. Pisces, p. 237, ph CVIII., fig. 1. 



Notes. — Yedo Bay, (8| inches,) Isagi. The draving indicates the dark dots on the lateral 

 line very distinctly. 



■ Though no drawing was Drought home of the fisi which is described in the Fauna Japonica 

 (p. 236, pi. 107, fig. 2) as the Clupea Micropus, it may not be considered improper to put on 

 record a few remarks concerning it, which may pr-)ve interesting as regards the geographical 

 distribution of the Clupeoidae. 



This Clupeoid has a smooth cylindrical abdomen without serratures, and evidently does not 

 come under the genus Clupea proper. M. Valenciennes, in a supplement to the 20th vol. of 

 the Hist, des Poissons, describes a fish which seems to have given him some trouble to place in 

 its proper position in the family. He however putf it between Butyrinus and Mops, and names 

 it Dussumiera acuta. It was brought from the coast of Malabar and Coromandel by Dussumier 

 but had been observed there previously by Leschenault and Sonnerat. M. Valenciennes adds 

 that the Clupea Micropus, referred to above, may perhaps be of the same species, but that if 

 distinct it would be a second species of bis new geius. 



Bleecker, in his "Nalezingen op de Ichthyologie van Japan," page 48, admits the close con- 

 nection of the Micropus with Dussumiera, but separates it from that genus, owing to his having 

 detected teeth on the vomer. He makes a genus Etrumeus to receive it, its Japanese name 

 being Etrumeiwasi. It however seems to belong to Valenciennes' genus, who distinctly de- 

 scribes the vomer as having rudimentary teeth on some specimens. Bleecker describes, also, 

 two new species of Dussumiera in his " Bijdragi tot de Kennis der Chirocentroidei," &c, page 

 12, from the Moluccas. 



The most curious fact, however, in the geographical distribution of this new genus is, that 

 the same, or a closely allied one, is found on ihe Atlantic coast of the United States. Dekay, 

 in the Natural History of the State of New York, (Fish, p. 262, pi. 40, fig. 128,) describes a fish 

 as the Alosa teres, of which he had only seen one specimen. It is, however not rare on our 

 shores, where it is found in the lower bay or on the coast outside, in summer, in small numbers, 

 near the surf, and is known to the fishermen as the round herring and bass-bait. Its size and 

 form enable it to pass through the nets. This fish is closely allied to the genus Dussumiera, if 

 not in reality belonging to it. M. Valenciennes, in the Hist, des Poissons, vol. 20. page 423, 

 describes a herring found by Lesueur near Philadelphia as ~Deka.y'bAlosa teres. It is certainly 

 not Dekay's fish, though it would be difficult to say where it ought tcbe placed. It has, besides 

 other differences, 19 anal rays, while the teres is stated by Dekay to have but 12. In most of 

 the specimens caught here but 10 were counted, rarely more, which makes it correspond to 

 Schlegel's Micropus, which had but 8 anal rays. Its formula is as follows: P. 15, V. 8, D. 

 19, A. 10, C. 4, 19, 4. It requires to be redescribed, but enough is known of it to place it 

 either in Dussumiera or very near it. It resembles Schlegel's Micropus more nearly than Va- 

 lenciennes' Dussumiera, judging from the published figures of them. 



