340 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The iiii rays are as follows : — D. 17. P. 18. V. 10. A. 17. C. 20. 



Length, ten inclies. 



Eemarks. This species is called " Blue-back " and " Kiouk/' by the fishermen at 

 Provincetown. It is seldom met with more than ten inches in length. A few make 

 their appearance in May ; they are then quite small and scattered ; they are numer- 

 ous before the 10th of June. They are occasionally taken, in small numbers, in 

 mackerel-nets ; but few only are thus captured, as their size allows them to swim 

 through the meshes of the net. They remain along the coast for only a short time. 

 Some years since, they were found in much larger numbers than at present, and a 

 hundred barrels full of them would be taken at the drag of a net. They are used as 

 bait for mackerel, and are worth about a dollar a barrel for that purpose. Captain At- 

 wood thinks this species is never found in rivers. 



This fish is very fat, almost too much so to eat ; and, appearing at a season when 

 other favorite species are so common, no use is made of it as an article of food. 



Blassachusetts, Stobek. 



Alosa lineata, Storer. 



The HickorT/'Shacl 

 (Plate XXVIL Fia. 2.) 

 Ahsa Uneaia^ Stobeb, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, ii. p. 242. 



Color. The sides of this fish are silvery, with six or eight indistinct bluish bands 

 running from the head to the tail, which are light-colored after death. The opercula 

 are cupreous ; the pectoral and caudal fins are of a dark-brown color, the pectorals 

 being fuliginous beneath ; the anal and ventral fins are nearly white. 



Bescripion. Body elongated, compressed. The head is equal in length to about one 

 fifth the entire fish ; the lower jaw is the longer ; the chin is prominent ; the eyes are 

 large and circular, their diameter equal to about one sixth the length of the head ; 

 the space between the eyes, from the nostrils to the occiput, is translucent. The 

 opercula and preopercula are beautifully striated ; the interopercle is but slightly 

 roughened. The abdomen is serrated ; about fifteen serrations between the ventral and 

 anal fins, more strongly marked than those anterior to the ventrals. The scales are 

 large and rounded; their concealed portion is covered with concentric stride, and delicate 

 radiations are seen passing to their circumference upon their exposed portions* 



The dorsal fin arises upon the anterior portion of the body ; its height is equal to two 

 thirds its length. 



