io8 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



to the muscular stomach, and hickory shad has reference to their 

 appearance in the spring, when the hickory trees blossom. 



Megalops cepediana Le Sueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 I, 1818, p. 361. 



D or soma cepediamim Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 822. — 

 Abbott, Amer. Nat. IV, 1870, pp. 109, no, 116, fig. 31. 



Dory soma cepedianum Abbott, Nat. Rambles, 1885, p. 478. 



Chatcessus insociabilis Abbott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 i860, p. 365. 



Family ENGRAULIDID^. 



The Anchovies. 



Body elongate, more or less compressed. Head compressed. 

 Snout pointed, compressed, usually pig-like and overlapping 

 mouth. Eye large, v^ell forward, without adipose eyelid. Pre- 

 orbital narrow. Mouth extremely large, more or less oblique. 

 Gape very wide, maxillary very long and slender, extending back- 

 ward far behind eye, sometimes beyond head. Premaxillaries not 

 protractile, very small and firmly joined to maxillaries. Teeth 

 usually small, sometimes obsolete, usually fine and even, uniserial 

 in jaws, and canines sometimes present. Opercles thin and mem- 

 branaceous. Gill-membranes separate or joined, free from isth- 

 mus. Gill-rakers long and slender. Pseudobranchiae present. 

 Branchiostegals slender, 7 to 14 in number. Body covered with 

 thin cycloid scales. No lateral line. Belly rounded or weakly 

 serrate. Fins various. Dorsal usually short and median. No 

 adipose fin. Caudal forked. 



Small carnivorous shore-fishes usually swimming in large 

 schools on sandy shores, and sometimes entering rivers. 



Genus Anchovia Jordan and Evermann. 



The Silvery Anchovies. 



Key to the species. 



a. Base of dorsal not entirely in front of anal, 



b. Developed or branched anal rays 17 to 18; lateral silvery band broad. 

 c. Depth 6; eye 4. eurystole 



i 



