Th SHAD 
Is the name of a fea fifth of the Herring kind: it is alfo called’ 
the Mother of Herrings; by fome authors Clupea and Trifia ; 
by the Ancients Trechis, or Trichias; and the Clupea Alofa of 
Linnzus. In its general form, it very much refembles the. 
Herring; only it is flatter and broader, and grows to a cubit 
long and four inches broad. The back is convex and rather 
fharp; the head floping confiderably from it. The body grows 
eradually lefs to the tail from thence. The lower jaw is 
rather longer than the upper; the teeth very minute. The 
dorfal fin is fmall, and placed very near the center: the mid- 
dle rays are the longeft. The pectoral and ventral fins are- 
fmall; the belly very fharp; the tail forked: the body is of 
a dufky blue. ~ Above the gills is a line of black fpots, which 
mark the-upper part of the back on each fide. The number 
af thefe fpots is different in different fifh, from four to ten. 
iene very common in. many of our-feas, and in fome of our 
rivers which lie near the fea. They run up there in great 
numbers, and.are then very fat; they afterwards become lean, 
and go down to the fea again. They ufually {wim in large. 
fhoals together. | 
The Shad is in higher perfection in the Severn than in any 
other 
P- $ 
= Ny aia awd i 
ee a eT, 
