2S4 
THE SHAD', 
l 
! the Shad *, 
1 his is fuppofed to be the thriffa of Arijlotle and Ofipi - 
an, and the alaufa of Aufonius ; but the deferiptions 
which the ancients gave of their fpecies were fo vague 
and general, that we can feldom afeertain the ex aft fpecies 
they had in view. The {had, in the fhape of the body 
and head, bears a flrong refembl'ance to the herring; the 
former, however, is a deeper filh, and more eotnprefied 
laterally ; it is alfo confiderably larger, weighing front- 
four to eight pounds. In colour, this fpecies refembles 
the pilchard ; the back being of a blackilh blue, and the 
ikies filvery. On each fide, near the gills, there is a 
large black fpot ; and behind it, in the lame ftraight line, 
there is a row of five or fix others, fmaller in fixe. The 
lateral lines are oblcurely difeerned ; the feales are large 
and deciduous; their margins punftuated with fin ail black 
dots ; the belly is carinated, and ftrongly ferrated by the 
edges of forty feales, which proceed in a row, from the 
gills to the aims. The eyes are large, covered as far as 
the irides with a loofe membrane ; the upper jaw is 
lomewhat fliorter than the lower, and exafperated on the 
ihargin with very minute teeth ; the other parts of the 
mouth are fmootli. The dorfal fin is fituated near the 1 
centre of the fi!h, fupported by eighteen cartilaginous 
rays, of which the middle are longefl ; the ventral, pec- 
toral, 
*■ Clapea. Aloft, Lin. Syft. The Shad, or mother of herring,/ Wi& 
