242 
MALACOPTERYGII. — CLUPE AD^ . 
The Family consists of one hundred and eighty 
known species, scattered over all parts of both 
oceans. Almost all of them are marine, and few 
of these ascend rivers. Generally they are of 
small size, comparatively few exceeding our own 
well-known Herrmg ; yet to this rule the Shad of 
our rivers is an exception, which grows to three 
feet in length, and the genus Megalops of the 
tropical seas is found to attain twelve feet. 
The food of such species as we are familiar with 
consists principally of minute crustaceous animals, 
and, it is probable, from the minuteness of the 
teeth in the Family, that the food is in general 
small. 
Genus Cl u pea. (Linn.) 
Some of our best-known and most valuable 
fishes are contained in this genus, as the Pilchard, 
Herring, Sprat, and Whitebait, not to reckon the 
Shads and the Anchovy, which are now placed in 
separate genera. Its distinctive characters are 
that the mouth is small, obliquely vertical; the 
teeth very minute or absent, the jaw^s nearly equal, 
not notched; the belly line compressed to an 
edge, sharp, and generally serrated : the dorsal fin 
situated above the ventrals ; the latter about 
equal to the pectorals, and both small ; the caudal 
forked : the body is covered with large thin scales, 
removed with little force. 
The Herrings are believed to be wholly car- 
nivorous; and, as we have already observed,* mi- 
nute Crustacea form a large portion of their sus- 
tenance. Mr. Yarrell observes of the Pilchard, 
I have found their stomachs crammed each with 
