346 The Grayling and the Smelt 
The best-known genus, Osmerus, includes the smelt, or 
spirling (éperlan), of Europe, and its relatives, all excellent food- 
fishes, although quickly spoiling in warm weather. Osmerus 
eperlanus is the European species; Osmerus mordax of our eastern 
coast is very much like it, as is also the rainbow-smelt, Osmerus 
dentex of Japan and Alaska. A larger smelt, Osmerus alba- 
trossis, occurs on the coast of Alaska, and a small and feeble 
one, Osmerus thaletchthys, mixed with other small or delicate 
fishes, is the whitebait of the San Francisco restaurants. The 
whitebait of the London epicure is made up of the young of 
herrings and sprats of different species. The still more delicate 
whitebait of the Hong Kong hotels is the icefish, Salanx chinensis, 
Fig. 251.—Smelt, Osmerus mordax (Mitchill). Wood’s Hole, Mass. 
Retropinna retropinna, so called from the backward insertion 
of its dorsal, is the excellent smelt of the rivers of New Zealand. 
All the other species belong to northern waters. Mesopus, 
the surf-smelt, has a smaller mouth than Osmerus and inhabits 
the North Pacific. The California species, Mesopus pretiosus, 
of Neah Bay has, according to James G. Swan, “the belly 
covered with a coating of yellow fat which imparts an oily 
appearance to the water where the fish has been cleansed or 
washed and makes them the very perfection of pan-fish.”” This 
species spawns in late summer along the surf-line. According 
to Mr. Swan the water seems to be filled with them. “They 
come in with the flood-tide, and when a wave breaks upon the 
beach they crowd up into the very foam, and as the surf re- 
cedes many will be seen flapping on the sand and shingle, but 
invariably returning with the undertow to deeper water.” 
The Quilliute Indians of Washington believe that “the first 
