S. THE SHAD AND THE ALEWIVES. 



By Marshall McDonald. 

 176. THE RIVER HERRINGS, OR ALEWIVES— CLUPEA JESTIVAIIS AND C. VERNALIS. 



History and nomenclature. — Early writers on American fishes, especially Mitchill and 

 De Kay, seem to have experienced great diflBculty in differentiating into species the various forms 

 of river Herring or Alewives in our waters. These early writers were, however, apparently more 

 discriminating than some of their successors, for they recognized differences which have been 

 ignored by subsequent writers. They were as much at fault, however, in making too many species 

 as were Storer and Gill in uniting all the forms under one specific name. Mitchill recognized 

 seven species, to wit, the "New Tork" Herring, Glwpea halec; the "Tiny" Herring, 0. pusilla; 

 the "Little" Herring, C.parvula; the "Sprat" Herring of Few York, G. indigena; the "Spring" 

 Herring or "Alewife," C vernalis; the "Summer" Herring of New Tork, C. cestivalis; and the 

 " Blue" Herring, C ccerulea; all of which are apparently founded upon hasty studies of individuals 

 of different ages and varying proportions, and in reality belong to the two species named in the 

 heading of this article. The work of Mitchill is valuable, since by him were well defined the 

 two .species which we recognize at the present time under the names now accepted by us, the 

 "Spring" and "Summer" Herrings, respectively G. vernalis and G. cestivalis. These are described 

 in such terms that they cannot be mistaken. It is not worth while to attempt an identification of 

 the other species, most of which are evidently based upon very small individuals. 



De Kay took up and discussed under the same or different names most of the forms enumerated 

 by Mitchill, and, taking advantage of his more accurate methods of description, we are able to 

 form a very satisfactory idea of what was intended under each name. The Alosa tyrannus of 

 De Kay corresponds to the G. vernalis of Mitchill, while the G. vernalis of De Kay, in the synonym 

 of which he cites Mitchill's G. halec, is without much doubt the summer Herring of Mitchill, 

 although De Kay loses sight of Mitchill's name G. cestivalis. The G. fasciata of De Kay, to which 

 he, without hesitation, refers Mitchill's G. pusilla, is probably the young of the summer Herring. 



It is useless to attempt to trace throughout the entire literature on the subject the various 

 errors in the identification of the river Herrings. Storer, in his " History of the Fishes of Massa- 

 chusetts," distinguishes the two species under the names Alosa cyanonoton and A. tyrannus, and 

 supplies figures of each. These are not, however, sufficiently characteristic to be serviceable in 

 identification. The name tyrannus, which was used by both De Kay and Storer for the spring 

 Herring, belongs by rights to the Menhaden, as has been elsewhere demonstrated. 



Douglass in his "North America," Boston and London, 1740, remarks, in speaking of New 

 England : 



"Alewives by some of the country people are called Herrings. They are of the Herring tribe, 

 but somewhat larger than the true Herring. They are very mean, dry, and insipid fish. Some of 

 them are cured in the manner of white Herrings, and sent to the sugar islands for the slaves, but 

 because of their bad quality they are not in request ; in some places they are used to manure land. 

 They are very plenty, and come up the rivers and brooks into ponds in the spring. Having 



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