PILCHARD. 
981 
maxillaries at the posterior part of their under margin. 
The palate and tongue are almost toothless". 
The dorsal tin begins at a distance from the tip of 
the snout (the articular knobs of the maxillaries) mea- 
suring in small specimens (Sardines) about 41 V 2 in 
large (Pilchards) about 40 %, of the length of the body, 
and apparently not exceeding 90 % (84 — 87 V 2 % accord- 
ing to our measurements) of the distance between the 
ventral tins and the same point. Its base, which is about 
equal to its height, measures about 12 1 / 3 — 1 1 1 / 3 % of 
the length of the body. The distance between the anal 
tin and the tip of the snout is about 66 — 70 % of the 
length of the body. Its outer margin, like that of the 
dorsal tin, is somewhat concave. Its base occupies about 
14 — 16 % of the length of the body, and is four to three 
times its height. The caudal tin was damaged in all 
our specimens; but, to judge by the remnants, it, seemed 
to be deeply forked, the length of the middle rays being 
about 74 °f that of the longest ones, which was about 
17 % of that of the body. 
The pectoral fins are rather more pointed than in 
the Herring. Their length is about 15 — 14 %, that of 
the ventral tins about 87 2 — 87 3 %, of the length of the 
body. The preabdominal length is somewhat greater 
than the postabdominal, but both are contained about 
four times in the length of the body. 
The size and texture of the scales we have men- 
tioned above. At the ventral margin we have counted 
20 spinigerous scales in front of and 16 behind the 
ventral tins. These spines are set in a groove, which 
is almost entirely concealed by the lowest scales on 
the ventral sides. 
The coloration of a new-caught, specimen is thus 
described by Malm: “Back above bluish green, sides 
and belly silvery white, with a dash of yellowish green 
towards the tail. The whole opercular apparatus, and 
especially the upper scapular region, as well as the 
anterior part of the iris and a portion of the maxil- 
laries, of a light, lustrous yellow, like that of sulphur- 
pyrites, which extends some way over the shoulder- 
girdle. On the shoulder-girdle, but someAvhat above 
the middle of the side, a light, blood-red spot. Central 
part of the operculum also blood-red. The whole 
gill-cover iridescent, resembling the most beautiful 
mother of pearl. Pupil rounded. Iris nacreous, tinged 
with orange behind, of a greenish gold above, with a 
whitish ground; finely punctated with black. Lower 
jaw yellowish at the tip. Tip of the snout blackish. 
Orbit, of an emerald ground-colour in front of the eye. 
Below the lateral line a row of six small, blackish spots, 
the first, situated in the red colour of the operculum, 
the second on the upper part of the shoulder-girdle, the 
third in front of the tip of the pectoral fin, separated 
therefrom by a distance equal to about half the diameter 
of the pupil. Distance between the third spot and the 
last one equal to the length of the pectoral fin. Dia- 
meter of these spots half that of the pupil. Fins greenish 
gray; anal lighter; ventrals colourless. Tongue so dense- 
ly punctated with dark dots that it is almost blackish”. 
The Pilchard is of the same importance in Medi- 
terranean countries and, to a considerable extent, in the 
west of France and south of England as the Herring in 
the North- Atlantic fishery. Boiled and preserved in oil, 
it is known all the world over; but its geographical range 
is not so wide as the Herring’s, and it can hardly vie in 
numbers with the latter. To the south it is known off 
Madeira and the Canary Islands 6 . To the north it is a 
stranger c even in the North Sea above Yarmouth, still 
more so in Scandinavian waters, though it has been 
found as far north as Bergen, whence Lilljeborg brought 
home to Upsala Museum two Pilchards in 1858. Malm 
mentions three specimens from Bohuslan, one of them 
taken at Kalfsund on the 15th of May, 1855, the other 
two at Stromstad, respectively on the 11th of August, 
1865, and the 15th of July, 1869. The Royal Mu- 
seum has received from Bohuslan two specimens 23 cm. 
long, the first obtained by Prof. S. Loven in 1861, the 
second taken in Roster Fjord by Mr. C. A. Hansson 
on the 25th of July, 1877. According to Nilsson a 
female about 25 cm. in length and with ripe roe was 
caught among common Herrings off Kullen on the 25th 
of September, 1849. Krqyer mentions a specimen ta- 
ken in a stake-net ( bundgarn ) in Kaerteminde Fjord 
(Fiinen) during October, 1867. 
The true Atlantic home of the Pilchard thus lies 
south of England, where it appears on the coasts of 
a “After the tongue has dried, a thin carina may be traced along it, with some extremely fine teeth, visible beneath the magnifying- 
glass, and set in a single row, on the inner part.” Nilsson, 1. c., p. 524. 
h Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. II, p. 189; Steind., 1. c. 
c In modern times at least. On the east coast of Scotland, according to Parnell, the case was formerly different; — see Mem. Wern. 
Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. VII, p. 321. 
