APPENDIX. 387 



ventral of eight rays, with four lengthened scales at 

 their hase ; dorsal nearest the head. 



Dorsal 1 6 ; pectoral 1 6 ; ventral 8 ; anal 1 7 ; caudal 20. 



Inhabits Pernambuco, Brazil, where it was common. 



(January, 1817.) 



The length of this species rather exceeds that of the full-grown of the 

 common sprat, the average being from four to six inches, but it is a much 

 broader fish, with the head larger in proportion and more obtuse ; the dor- 

 sal fin is placed much nearer the head, so that the last ray is exactly central 

 between the tip of the snout and the fork of the caudal ; its height is also ra- 

 ther more than its length ; the ventral has its commencement rather behind 

 the centre of the dorsal, and the latter fin and the anal are exactly of the same 

 length ; the pectoral is rather lengthened, so that it reaches as far as to 

 come immediately under the commencement of the dorsal ; caudal, as usual, 

 deeply forJsed ; belli/ protuberant, sharp, and serrated ; body semitrans- 

 parent ; jaws and palate rough ; tongue rather long, narrow, cylindrical, 

 incurved, rough behind ; vent near the tail ; nostrils single, oval, near the 

 tip of the snout ; gill membrane 6-rayed ; pectoral fin with lengthened 

 scales both above and below the base, and similar scales are at the base of 

 the ventral fins ; anal and dorsal fins with the last rays slightly lengthened. 

 Colour. — Above pale blue ; the sides silvered ; along the middle of the 

 body a bright band of silver (similar to that of the Argentina) from the 

 gill-covers to the caudal tin; fins pale, dusky, a blackish line at the base of 

 the caudal ; the transparency of the body is sufficient to show the rich 

 silvery colour of the air-bladder, or intestines ; irides bright yellow, green 

 towards the crown ; lower jaw longest ; dorsal and anal sheathed by a row 

 of scales at their base. 



CLUPEA macrocephala. Great-headed Sprat. 

 Inhabits, in certain seasons, the Mersey, near Liverpool. 



It is now near twenty-three years since the Clupea, now to be described, 

 was found by me, in some abundance, in the river Mersey, during the 

 spring of 1817, at a time when I had contemplated a general work on Bri- 

 tish Ichthyology ; an undertaking that was laid aside on embarking, the 

 same year, for Tropical xYmerica. The following description, with an 

 accurate drawing, was then made, and their correctness verified by the 

 examination of numerous individuals. It seems to me a species totally 

 different from any yet recorded, whether of Britain or of the Mediterra- 

 nean. I shall first call the reader's attention to its general characters, and 

 then to such as separate it from its allies. 



The largest-sized individual met with, did not exceed four inches three 

 tenths. On comparing its general form with that of the common sprat, the 

 head is considerably larger, the eyes further removed from the snout, the 

 lower jaw longer, and the belly much narrower. The length of the head, 

 when measured from the tip of the upper jaw, is just one-fourth the length 

 of the body exclusive of the caudal fin ; the under jaw is much the longest, 

 and there are a few recurved teeth in the palate ; nostrils simple, placed 

 centrally between the eye and tip of the muzzle ; tongue narrow, thick, 

 pointed ; dorsal fin exactly central between the two extreme points of the 

 whole length of the fish, rather higher than it is long ; ventral correspond- 

 ing to the centre of the dorsal ; pectoral rather longer than the length both 

 of the dorsal and ventral, which latter is shorter in its extent than the 

 dorsal; ventral small, without any appendages; caudal deeply forked; 

 beDy carinated, and sharply serrated ; number of the vertebree fifty-five. 

 Colour. — Crown and back changeable blue, with iridescent reflections: 

 sides bright silvery ; scales very deciduous, smaller in proportion than those 

 of the common sprat. 



C C 2 



