952 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
sionally so long that it joins the caudal fin, as in the 
Sheatfish. 
The Herring family is rich in forms. Even after 
the sifting to which they have been subjected by Valen- 
ciennes", Gunther 6 , and Bleeker 0 , there remain about 
200 named species, a large number of which have only 
a dubious claim to that rank. The family consists 
mainly of salt-water fishes, but many species are ana- 
dromons, and some are true fresh-water forms. It is 
in the temperate and frigid seas of the Northern Hemi- 
sphere that the family has attracted most attention and 
played the most important part in the economy of man; 
but gregariousness is a trait common to the whole fa- 
mily and shared by its members in the Southern He- 
misphere. Great shoals of certain species d rove in the 
South Pacific, along the coasts of New Zealand and 
Australia, as the common Herring does in our latitudes. 
But owing to the less advanced development of indus- 
trial enterprise in those southern regions the fisheries 
have not N et attained such dimensions as in the earlier 
seats of civilization. 
To the ancient Greeks and Romans the Clupeoid 
family was by no means unknown, though the Herring 
itself does not occur in the Mediterranean ; and even in 
the time of Aristophanes they had learnt to cure their 
take of Herrings (principally Anchovies and Sardines) 
by salting. Halec originally meant brine. Which spe- 
cies they designated by their names, it is, however, 
difficult to determine. Among the modern Greeks Tlirissa 
is the name applied to the Mediterranean Clupea ( Alosa ) 
anrita. Chalcis (in Aristotle a fish that roved in shoals) 
was, according to Callimachus, the same species as 
Tricliis , and Aristotle gives c Membras, Trichis f , and 
Trichias as different ages of the same species, probably 
the Shad. The Anchovy was known by Aristotle as 
Enkraulos, by /Elian as Engraulis, Enkrasicholus, and 
Lycostomus. Clupea was a classical Latin name. Alosa 
( alausa , the Germanic Alse ) occurs first in Ausonius. 
Of the four subfamilies under which the Clupeoids, 
after the above-mentioned reductions in the number of 
the species, naturally fall, only two are represented in 
the Scandinavian fauna, by the following species of 
more or less common occurrence: 
I: Length of the upper jaw from the 
tip of the snout less than 3 / 4 of 
that of the head ; intermaxillaries 
shorter than the maxillaries 5 '; ven- 
tral margin carinated 7 ' — Subfa- 
mily Clupeince. 
A: Postorbital length of the head 
less than x / 4 of the distance be- 
tween the dorsal fin and the tip 
of the snout. —Subgenus Clupea. 
a: Length of the base of the 
anal fin less than x / 4 of the 
distance between the ventral 
fins and the tip of the snout Clupea harengus. 
b: Length of the base of the 
anal fin more than x / 4 of the 
distance between the ventral 
fins and the tip of the snout Clupea sprattus. 
B: Postorbital length of the head 4 
more than x / 4 of the distance 
between the dorsal fin and the 
tip of the snout. — Subgenus 
Alosa. 
a: Least depth of the tail 
more than 4 / 5 of the length 
of the maxillaries __ Clupea pilchardus. 
b: Least depth of the tail less 
than V- of the leno-th of 
the maxillaries Clupea alosa. 
a: Gill-rakers on the first 
branchial arch about 40 — 
60: var. Clupea finta. 
(3: Gill-rakers on the first 
branchial arch about 60 — 
120: var. Clupea alosa. 
II: Length of the upper jaw from the 
tip of the snout more than 3 / 4 of 
the length of the head. — Sub- 
family Engraulince Stolephorus encrasicholus. 
Several indications, as for example the more or less 
advanced position of the ventral fins and the gradual 
prolongation of the anal fin, suggest that in the Clupe- 
oid family the course of development has been from 
the small-mouthecl Herrings to the large-mouthed An- 
chovies. But our materials are not sufficient to enable 
us to pass a decisive opinion on this point. 
a Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. XIX. 
b Cat. Brit. Mus ., Fish., vol. VII. 
c Atlas Ichtlnjologique des Indes Orientates Ne'erlandaises, tome VI. 
d Clupea sagax , Clupea sundaica, Spratelloides delicatulas. 
e De Anim. Hist., lib. VI, cap. 15. 
f From hair , an allusion to the hair-like bones in the flesh. 
g Intermaxillaries longer than the maxillaries in the subfamily Dorosomatince ( Cliatoessince ). 
h Ventral margin not carinated in the subfamily Dussumieriince. 
1 At all events when measured obliquely from the middle of the posterior orbital margin to the lower posterior angle of the operculum. 
