PISHES-ATHEKINIDAE—ATHERINOPSIS CALIFORNIENSIS. 
103 
ATHERINOPSIS CALIFORNIENSIS, Grd. 
California “Smelt.” 
Plate XXII c. 
Spec. Char. —Head small and subquadrangularly pyramidal, constituting the sixth of the entire length. Base of anal fin 
much longer than that of the second dorsal. Greyish brown above ; light brown or silvery beneath. Fins olivaceus, unicolor. 
Syn. — Mherinopsis californiensis, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 134, 141, & 151 ; &, in Journ. Bost. Soc. 
Nat. Hist. VI, 1857. Plate xxiv, figs. 1—4. 
Jllherina storeri, Ayres, MS.— Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VIII, 1856, 136. 
The “Smelt” of the California settlers. 
We have had an opportunity of examining a great number of specimens of this species, 
measuring from five to seventeen inches in total length, the head constituting precisely the 
sixth part of it. The body is very much compressed, rather slender in general appearance, and 
gracefully subfusiform. The dorsal line is hut slightly arched in the adult fish ; in the young 
it is less so yet, passing gradually to the upper surface of the head without transition. The 
same is true of the ventral outline: more convex in the adult than in the young. The hack 
anterior to the fins is generally rounded off. The greatest depth of the body, taken immediately 
in advance of the origin of the ventral fins, is contained about seven times in the total length ; 
the least depth, on the peduncle of the tail, is about the half of the greatest. 
The head is proportionally small, slightly convex above, and subquadrangularly pyramidal, 
though the sides slope inwardly downwards, thus rendering the inferior plane much narrower 
than the upper. The snout itself is subconical .in its retracted condition. Protractile to a 
certain degree, the mouth, which is of moderate size, preserves, nevertheless, its horizontal gape. 
It is the only portion of the head, the preorbital region included, which is deprived of scales, 
and hence perfectly smooth. The teeth are very exiguous, of the velvet-like type. The tongue 
is narrow, anteriorly rounded, and perfectly smooth. The anterior nostril is situated midway 
between the anterior rim of the orbit and the extremity of the snout. The eye is subcircular 
and of moderate size ; its horizontal diameter enters about four times and a half, or a little more, 
in the length of the side of the head. The branchial fissures are continuous under the throat, 
and prolonged towards the hyoid apparatus. The branchiostegal rays are five on either side 
and quite slender. The inter-and subopercle are well developed. 
The origin of the anterior dorsal fin is equidistant between the extremity of the snout and 
the fork of the caudal; the fin itself is composed of seven spiny rays, the first of which being 
the highest. The second dorsal is situated opposite the anal; and since its base is a good deal 
shorter than that of the. latter, the posterior extremities and the anterior margins of these two 
fins do not coincide with the same vertical lines. The rays are thirteen in number, diminishing 
less abruptly in height than in the anterior dorsal, thus giving the upper margin of that fin a 
more gradual slope. The caudal fin is deeply forked, and contained in the total length about 
six times, the same as the head. The anal is as deep anteriorly as the second dorsal is high, 
diminishing, however, very rapidly backwards. The origin of the ventrals is nearer the 
terminus of the anal than the extremity of the snout; they are composed of five well developed 
