Class IV. SPRAT HERRING. 457 



Spratti. Wil. Ichth. 221. Rati Hwussbuk. Faun. Suec. No. 3. Sprat. 



Syn. pine. 105. 358. 



Clupea ijuatlriuncialis, maxilla Le Sprat. Duhamel Tr. des 



inferiore lon^iore, ventre Pesches, ii. 471. sect. 3. 



acutissimo. Arted. synon. tab. \6. Jig. 2. 



17- Le Sprat. Block Ichth. i. 165. 



Clupea Sprattus. CI. pinna tab. 2Q. f. 2. 



dorsali radiis tredecim. Lin. La Clupee sardine. De la Ce- 



Si/st. 523. Gm. Lin. 1403. pede Hist, des Poissons, v. 



444. 



JVIr. JVillughby and Mr. Ray were of 

 opinion, that these fishes are the fry of the 

 herring : we are induced to dissent from them, 

 not only because on comparing a sprat and 

 young herring of equal size, we discovered some 

 specific differences, but likewise for another 

 reason: the former visit our coasts, and con- 

 tinue with us in shoals innumerable, when the 

 others in general have retired to the great 

 northern deeps. 



They come into the river Thames, below 

 bridge, the beginning of November, and leave 

 it in March, and are, during their season, a 

 great relief to the poor of the capital. At 

 Gravesend and at Yarmouth, they are cured like 

 red herrings ; they are sometimes pickled, and 

 are little inferior in flavor to the Anchovy, but 



