386 



APPENDIX. 



scaly appendages between them^ but none to the 



pectorals ; caudal with two large scales in the middle; 



belly serrated. 



Dorsal 1 8 rays ; pectoral 1 7 ; ventral 8 ; anal 1 9. 



Inhabits Sicilv. 



General length from 7 to 11 inches. In comparison with the common 

 sprat, the body is more slender, the head longer, and the eyes proportion- 

 ably more distant from the snout ; the dorsal fin is placed more forward, 

 so that, in a specimen seven inches long, the exact centres between the tip 

 of the snout and the end of the caudal is two tenths of an inch behind the 

 dorsal fin, the height of which is precisely equal to its length ; the length 

 of the head is exactly one-fifth of that between the tip of the snout and 

 the fork of the caudal, and is precisely the same as the breadth of the body 

 between the dorsal and anal fins ; thejjectoral is shorter than the height of 

 the dorsal, but as long as the anal, excluding the last ray of the latter ; the 

 ventral is immediately under the centre of the dorsal ; jaws and palate 

 perfectly smooth; lower jaw rather longer than the upper j scales large, 

 deciduous; two first rays of the dorsal fin short; ventral with two scaly 

 appendages between them ; pectoral reposing in a groove, but no appendage 

 is mentioned in tlie original description, or expressed in the drawing : ven- 

 tral fin verj- narrrow, with the last ray rather longer and thicker ; both 

 this fin and' the dorsal have the base slightly grooved ; caudal deeply forked, 

 with two scaly appendages in the middle of the fork. Colour on the back 

 dark blue, reflecting tints of rich ultramarine ; the sides of the head yel- 

 lowish grer^n, but those of the body silvery ; dorsal and caudal yellowish : 

 the rest white. The back is thick ; the belly sharp and distinctly serrated, 

 as in the common sprat. 



This is called by the Sicilians Sardi, a name they give to 

 all the small herrings, and even to the anchovies ; it congre- 

 gates and is captured in vast shoals on the coasts during the 

 winter and early spring, when it is sold in baskets by weight, 

 and is hawked about the streets of Palermo like our sprat is in 

 London. In the year 1814-15, it was in the greatest profu- 

 sion at Palermo from December to March. 



But for the testimony of Cuvier, that the Sardine " is so 

 similar to the pilchard, that no difference can be found except 

 in its smaller size *, " I should have imagined that this was 

 the true Clupea Sardini ; but this cannot be, for the pilchard 

 has the belly smooth, while that of our C. Sicula is as much 

 serrated as in the common sprat. Lacepede makes the Sardine 

 to be the same as the sprat ; but his description is too loose for 

 determinmg either one or the other. Duhamel, whose work I 

 have not seen, appears the only author who has figured the 

 Sardine of Brittany, which is in all probability different from 

 that of the Mediterranean. 



CLUPEA argentina. Silver-striped Sprat. 



Body with a broad silver stripe on each side ; belly ser- 

 rated ; pectoral fin reaching to the base of the dorsal ; 



* Griff Cuv. X. p. 437. 



