I. 



tlie coast of file I'nited States, and they are treqiieiitly 

 taken in ^reat qnantities in the mackerel nets of the 

 Gulf of Maine, as well as the pounds along the coast. 

 The geographical distribution of the two species, as now 

 understood, is quite different. Both species occur in the 

 Chesapeake Bay and its tril)utaries. and both together 

 as far north as the Bay of Fundy and perhaps the south- 

 ern part of the Gulf of Saint LaAvrence. The glut-her- 

 ring, however, is found south of the Chesapeake, even 

 as far as the Saint John River of Florida, while the 

 branch-hetring. under the name of Gaspereau. occurs 

 the entire length of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and 

 throughout Lake (Ontario. It is somewhat difficult to 

 distinguish the tAvo species by external characters, the 

 best distinction toeing in the color of the lining of the 

 abdomen, which is black in the glut-herring and gray in 

 the branch-herring. The former is also distinguished 

 bv its elona'ated form, lower bodv, less elevated hns, 

 smaller eyes, and the different proportions of the bones 

 of the head. It may be iiueresting in this connection to 

 note the statement of tAvo careful observers in Massa- 

 chusetts, at the same time remarking that the subject is 

 not thoroughly u]iderstood. and that further investiga- 

 tions may bi-ing to light still other species related to 

 those already described. 



In an account of the "Topography and History of 

 Wareham. Mass." (Coll. Mas-'i. Hist. Soc. Vol. IV., 

 187i"). ^2r7 series, pp. 21)4-296.) is the folloAving account of 

 the tAA'o species of aleAA'ives. or herrings. AA^hich is inter- 

 esting, since it is tlie tirst recorded instance of any dis- 

 crimination betAveen them: — 



"Of the aleAA-ife there are evidently tAvo kinds, not 

 onlv in size, but habits, Avhich annuallv visit the brooks, 

 passing to the sea at Wareham. The larger, which set 

 in some days earlier, invariably seek the AVeweantic 

 sources. These, it is said, are preferred for the present 

 use, perhaps, because they are the earliest. The second 



