ZOOLOGY. 
363 
be taken with the hook at Vancouver, and probably also in other parts of the waters of the 
Columbia. No notes of its colors when fresh are preserved, but they did not differ much from 
the colors in alcohol, unless in wanting “ reddish’ ’ on the back. The figure is of the size of 
life.—C 
PTYCHOCHEILUS OREGONENSIS, Grd. 
Oregon Carp. 
Plate LXIY, Pigs. 5—9. 
Sp. Ch.—B ody sub-fusiform in profile. Head rather small, elongated; contained four times and a half in the total 
length; snout slender. Mouth deeply cleft: posterior extremity of maxillary extending to a vertical line intersecting almost the 
anterior rim of the pupil. Eye of moderate development; its diameter entering about five times in the length of the side of the 
head. Anterior margin of dorsal fin equidistant between the extremity of the snout and the fork of the caudal. Pectoral and 
ventral fins rather small. 
Syn .—Cyprinus (Leuciscus ) oregonensis, Richards. Faun. Bor. Amer. Ill, 1836, 305. 
Plychocheilus gracili , Agass. & Pick, in Amer. Jour, of Sc. 2d ser. XIX, 1855, 229. 
Ptychocheilus oregonensis Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. YHI, 1856, 209.— Ibid. Gen. Rep. Fishes, 298. 
This fish is found in the Columbia near Port Dalles, where I obtained a fine specimen about 
14 inches in length. The species is readily taken with a hook baited with meat or worms ; but 
as the flesh is of such a poor, insipid character, it is worthless when caught. 
Colors of a female : back, deep blue ; in certain lights, dark bluish olive; sides, for about half 
an inch above and below the lateral line, lighter, approaching to silvery ; below the line a 
longitudinal band continues from the angle of the mouth across the operculum, bright straw 
yellow, its boundaries merging into the silvery blue above and into the white of the abdomen 
below. Under surface, posterior to anus straw yellow ; upper surface of head dark olive ; chin 
and throat yellow; iris dark olive, yellowish orange, and maculated below. Dorsal fin and 
tail dark olive ; anal and ventral orange. Thoracic anteriorly olive, beneath orange. 
Family CLUPEIDAE. —Herrings. 
MELETTA COERULEA, Grd. 
Puget Sound Herring. 
Plate LXXV, Figs. 5—7. 
Sp. Ch. —Body slender, elongated, sub-fusiform in profile. Head constituting more than the fifth of the total length. Posterior 
extremity of maxillar bone extending to a vertical line drawn through the middle of the orbit. Eye large and sub circular; its 
diameter entering four times and a half in the length of the side of the head. Anterior margin of dorsal fin nearer the extremity 
of the snout than the insertion of the caudal. Base of anal fin entering about ten times in the total length. Insertion of ventrals 
opposite the posterior third of the base of the dorsal fin. Bluish black above; yellowish or whitish beneath, with metallic reflections. 
Fins unicolor. 
Syn. —Meletta coerulea , Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 138; &, 154.— Ibid. Gen. Rep. Fishes, p. 330. 
This fish, commonly known as the “herring.” enters Shoalwater bay in large numbers in 
June, and is then found at low tide stranded on the flats. It is a very good fish for eating when 
fresh, and would doubtless become an article of trade smoked, were there not so great an 
abundance of finer fish on the coast. It grows to the length of ten inches, and when fresh is 
steel blue above and shining white on the sides and beneath.—0. 
According to Mr. Geo. Gibbs, the principal species of small “school-fish” which frequent 
Puget Sound are of four kinds. 1. The present fish, known to the Nisqually and Skaiwamish 
