PLATE LXIX. 
a Me to obtain, previous to the publication of his work on Fishes. 
Phis circumstance is the more singular, since we have heretofore been 
taught to believe it an abundant fish on all the European shores, an 
idea that seems to us the less certain from the observations of Bloch, 
a nd from the silence of so many ichthyological writers as have ap- 
peared at various times upon the continent respecting it. We cannot 
conceive that the Pilchard is peculiarly British, having ourselves seen 
II from the Mediterranean, but believe upon the whole that it is more 
abundant on our coasts, and far better known in this country than 
III any other part of Europe. 
The comparative view which Pennant draws between our fish and 
common Herring is judicious, and will serve to shew the cha- 
r acteristic differences between those two fishes in the clearest point 
view. The specimens he examined were both of the same length, 
Namely, nine inches and an half each. “ The body of the Pilchard (he 
Sa ys) is less compressed than that of the Herring, being thicker, and 
r °under, the nose short in proportion, and turned up, and the under jaw 
shortest. The back more elevated : and the belly less sharp. The 
d° r sal fin of the Pilchard is placed exactly in the center of gravity, 
*° that when taken up by it, the body preserves an equilibrium, 
whereas that of the Herring dips at the head, the dorsal fin being 
P la ced only three inches eight-tenths from the tip of the nose ; that 
the Herring four inches one-tenth. The scales of the Pilchard 
at lhere very closely, whereas those of the Herring very easily drop 
The Pilchard is in general less than the Herring. The Pilchard 
ls fatter, or more full of oil 
Brit. Zool. Vol. III. p. 3i 6. 
