324 Fisninc in American WATERS. 
Seale uf Inches. 
Herrine anp Prrcuarp Famtty.—l. The Mossbonker, or Hard-bead, Alosa menhaden 
(very abundant on the shores of Long Island and Mass. It is seldom eaten). 
The Pilchard, Clupea pilchardus. 8. The Anchovy, Engraulis engrasicolus, 4. Amer- 
ican Shad, Alosa preestabilis, 5. The Herring, Clupea harengus. 
SECTION SECOND. 
No, 4.—THE SHAD. 
By the rice-border’d Southern coast, 
Where the Savannah River winds, 
The shad shoal, an unnumber’d host, 
Its earliest feeding pasture finds. 
Thence northward where the Hudson sweeps 
Connecticut’s transparent deeps, 
Their gleaming myriads seek a home 
Beyond the surges and the foam. 
‘Tue Swap, commercially, is an important fish. It winters 
in the ocean, dallies among the nets in the estuaries during 
spring, after which it lays its ove in the sands above tide-wa- 
ter, and returns to salt water to recuperate. It is very pro- 
lific, yielding from a fourth to halfa million eggs annually 
within the months of April, May, and June. The Connecti- 
cut River is supposed to contain the best shad, while those 
of the Delaware and Hudson are excellent fish—vastly supe 
rior to those of the British Isles, or to the Alosa vulgaris, 
which is numerous in the rivers of France, but so small and 
lean as never to be seen on the table of an epicure. The av- 
erage weight of shad in Europe is less than two pounds, while 
