394 
AMERICAN FISHES . 
of their characters were first published in the report of the Virginia Fish 
Commission for 1879. These species may easily be distinguished from 
each other by the following characters: C. cestivalis is more elongate in 
form, has a lower body, less elevated fins, and smaller eyes than C. vernalis. 
The proportions of the bones of the head in C. cestivalis differ from those 
in C. vernalis , as also does the coloration of the lining of the abdomen, 
which in C. cestivalis is black and in C. vernalis , gray. 
The popular names applied to these fishes differ in almost every river 
along the coast. C. vernalis is known along the Potomac River as the 
“ Branch Herring on the Albemarle River as the “ Big-eyed Herring” 
and the “ Wall-eyed Herring”; in Canada it is known as the “ Gaspe- 
reau ” or “ Gasperot.” It is pre-eminently the “ Alewife ” of New Eng¬ 
land ; the “ Ellwife ” or “Ellwhop”of the Connecticut River. The 
other species, C. cestivalis , undoubtedly occurs occasionally in its com¬ 
pany, but is probably not common in the Connecticut and Housatonic 
Rivers, and in many parts of Massachusetts is distinguished by another 
name. 
The C. cestivalis is the “Glut Herring” of the Albemarle and the 
Chesapeake, and the “English Herring” of the Ogeechee River. In the 
St. John’s River, Florida, it is known simply as the “ Herring.” On the 
coast of Massachusetts it is called the “ Blue-back,” a name which is. 
common to the late runs of the same species of the Rappahannock. Around 
the Gulf of Maine this species is also known by the names “ Kyack ” or 
“ Kyauk,” “ Saw-belly,” and “ Cat-thrasher.” Although the coast fisher¬ 
men of Massachusetts and Maine claim to distinguish the two species, the 
“ Blue-backs” and the “ Alewives,” their judgment is by no means in¬ 
fallible, for I have frequently had them sort out into two pdes the fishes 
which they distinguish under these names, and found that their discrimi¬ 
nation was not at all reliable. The features to which they mainly trusted 
in the determination of C. cestivalis are the bluer color of the back and the 
greater serration upon the ventral-ridge. The other species, when the 
scales on its back are rubbed off, is as blue as this, and the serration of the 
belly is dependent entirely upon the extent to which the back has become 
stiffened in the death struggle and the consequent degree of arching of the 
ventral ridge. The young of one or both species are sold in the Boston 
markets under the name “ Sprats,” and in New York they makeup a large 
proportion of the so-called “Whitebait.” 
