XLIX 



sides of tlie Atlantic, the menhaden, another fish of ex- 

 treme importance from Maine to Virginia, the thread- 

 heiTing and the round-herring, insignificant species of 

 no particular value, are found solely in the sea. One, 

 the mud-shad, or gizzard-shad, is found in brackish 

 water, from Cape Cod to Florida, while four others live 

 both at sea and in the rivers, and by their peculiar habit 

 of breeding in the rivers and feeding at sea are of the ut- 

 most importance to the river fisheries. These are the 

 shad, the hickory-shad, or tailor-herring, and the two 

 species of river herring. The two species of river her- 

 ring have, for many years previous to 1879, been con- 

 sidered as identical, or, to speak more exactly, although 

 fishermen have had decided opinions that there were two 

 different kinds, this fact had not been demonstrated to 

 the satisfaction of naturalists. Eecent observations, 

 however, have demonstrated very satisfactorily that 

 there are two species, which, besides presenting marked 

 and characteristic differences, are very different in tlieir 

 habits. One of them, the gray-back herring of Massa- 

 chusetts, the branch herring of the Chesapeake waters, 

 the G-aspereau {pomolohus vernalis) of Canada, appears 

 to enter the rivers earlier than the other species. In the 

 Chesaj^eake, the schools are said to be smaller, and tjiey 

 sx)awn higher up in the creeks. The other species, the 

 glut-herring of the Chesaj^eake, the black-belly of Mas- 

 sachusetts, also known to New England hshernien by 

 the names "saw-belly," "Kyack," and ''cat- thrasher" 

 {'pomolohus cestivalis), is later in its runs, and swims in 

 larger schools near the mouths of tlie creelvs. TJie name 

 glut-herring, indeed is said to refer to tlie fact that the 

 schools of fish are ^o large that they fill up or glut the 

 moutlis of small streams, as well as the markets of the 

 vicinity, while, on the other hand, the name branch- 

 herring has reference to the fact that the other species 

 goes up to the heads of creeks or branches. The glut- 

 herring seems to be more widely distributed at sea along 



