I04 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE AlUSEUM. 



20 + 12; snout 4% in head; eye 5; maxilllary 2^ ; interorbital 

 space 4 ; pectoral i Ys ; ventral 3 5^ ; least depth of caudal 

 peduncle 3 J/3. Body elliptical, compressed, deepest anteriorly 

 and tapering posteriorly. Head very large, short and heavy. 

 Snout short. Adipose eyelid very large. Mouth large. Jaws 

 about even, no teeth. Interorbital space convex. Cheeks 

 deeper than long. Gill-rakers very long and slender, densely set, 

 and appearing to fill mouth when it is opened, much longer than 

 eye. Gill-arches angularly bent. Scales deeper than long, closely 

 imbricated, and exposed edges vertical, fluted or pectinated, es- 

 pecially those before dorsal. Intestinal canal elongate. Peri- 

 toneum dusky. Dorsal inserted a little nearer base of caudal 

 than tip of snout, its height equals maxillary. Anal beginning 

 close behind dorsal. Pectoral about J4 of space of ventral. Ven- 

 tral inserted opposite origin of dorsal and reaching not quite 

 half way to anal. Color bluish above, and sides and lower sur- 

 face silvery. Sides brassy. A dusky scapular blotch with a 

 number of smaller spots following on costal region above. Fins 

 pale. Length 9% inches. Atlantic City. 



Plentiful at times at Cape May, though apparently scarce as 

 compared with its former abundance. Now used altogether as 

 bait in many places. Previously great num_bers were taken and 

 deposited by wagon-loads as fertilizers. Though occurring now 

 in small-sized schools, the}^ are generally to all appearances fatter 

 in the fall. I have found them abundant in both winter and 

 spring off Sea Isle City. As they are surface swimmers they fre- 

 quently fall a prey to the fish hawk. Of no account as a food- 

 fish, but of use for the oil and as fertilizers. At one time they 

 were especially abundant in the inlet about the sewers of Atlantic 

 City, where they fed on refuse, swimming close to the surface in 

 large schools and producing quite a commotion. 



Brevoortia tyranmis Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 

 149.— Moore, Bull.' U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 359.— Smith, 

 Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 369. 



Alosa menhaden Baird, 9th An. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1854, p. 

 347. — Cook, Geol. Cape May, 1857, p. 113. 



Brevoortia menhaden Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1867, p. 822, from 

 Cook. 



