THE SMELTS AND THEIR KINDRED. 593 
family—the Argentinids—are more deep-seated. The stomach is cecal, 
the pyloric cceca, so numerous in the Salmonids, are comparatively few in 
number, and the ovaries are peculiar for their connection with the dorsal 
wall of the abdominal cavity by narrow mesoarial folds of the peritoneum 
which form partitions and imperfect oviducal channels. 
About a dozen species of the family live in American waters—ten in the 
Pacific and three in the Atlantic. 
The true Smelts of the genus Osmerus are the most numerous, three 
(O. thaleichthys, O. attenuatus, and O. dentex) frequenting the western 
coast and one (O. mordax) the eastern. All of these are prized for the 
table, for their flesh is delicate and savory, but it does not keep well and 
suffers from delay in preparation for the repast. They all may attain a 
length of about ten to twelve inches, but generally are smaller. The Eastern 
or common American Smelt (O. mordax) is most abundant along the coasts 
of New England and the Middle States. The Common Smelt of this genus 
of the Californian markets is the O. ¢haleichthys, and another found in the 
same region and named O. attenuatus is scarcely distinct. Further to the 
north and occurring not only in Alaska but along the coasts of Siberia and 
northern China is another Smelt (O. dentex), differing from most of the 
family by suffusion with brilliant reflections which have gained for it 
the name of Rainbow Herring, a name appropriate enough as to the specific 
part, but very misleading for the generic half. 
The Eastern Smelt (O. mordax) grows occasionally, as indicated, to the 
length of a foot, but the average is much less, and they appear to associate 
together in schools somewhat according to size, so that many fishermen 
contend that there are two kinds. For instance, at the city of New Bruns- 
wick there is a considerable fishery, and the catchers distinguish two kinds, 
the Frost fish, from eight to twelve inches long, and the Si/versides, which is 
only about three or four inches long. It is estimated that seven inches of 
length nearly expresses the average for New England fishes. The male is 
smaller than the female. ; 
The Smelts ascend the rivers after the close of winter, and that of course 
varies with the latitude. For the New Jersey streams the season is in 
March, and generally its height is near the end. About forty thousand eggs 
have been assigned as an average to a well-developed female, but many 
small spawners will have no more than twenty thousand, and as many as 
seventy thousand were found in a female seven and a quarter inches long 
from Rhode Island. “The eggs, as they issue from the female, are enclosed 
