SPRAT. 167 



or May, according to the temperature of the season. 

 The Thames Shad, according to the same author, 

 does not appear till the latter end of May or begin- 

 ning of June, and is esteemed but a coarse and 

 insipid fis^li. It seems to be subject to some variety: 

 is not always marked by the black spots mentioned 

 in the specific character ; and is sometimes seen ot 

 a dusky and sometimes of a cupreous or rufous 

 tinge. 



SPRAT, 



Clupea Sprattus. C. argentea, dorso subfusco, maxilla inferiore 



longiore, abdomine serrato. 

 Silvery Herring, with brownish back^ lower jaw longer than 



the upper, and serrated addomen. 

 Clupea Sprattus. C. maxilla inferiore longiore, pinna: ani radiis 



septendecim. Block, t. 2Q»f. 2, 

 Clupea Sprattus. Lin, Si/st. Nat. p. 52^, 

 La Sardine. Duham. 2. p. 418, 

 ' Sprat. Penn. Brit. Zool, 



So much allied to the Herring in almost all 

 points except in size as to have been frequently 

 considered as the young of that fish: indeed the 

 differences are, at first view, so slight, that it is 

 not very easy to form a true specific character. 

 Mr. Pennant observes that the chief difference 

 consists in the abdomen, which in the Sprat is 

 strongly serrated : he adds that the vertebrae in the 

 back bone of the Sprat are forty-eight in number, 

 but in that of the Herring fifty-six : the back fin is 

 placed more remote from the head than in th^ 



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