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Show 234 PISCES. illaries, that constitute but a small portion of the upper jaw, th~ sides of which are completed by the maxillaries, so that these sides are alone protractile; and in the inferior edge of the body, which is compressed, and where the scales form notches resembling those of a saw. The maxillaries, besides, are divided into three parts. The branchire are so much cleft, that all the fishes of the genus are said to die instantly when taken from the water. The sides of the bran· chial rays next to the mouth are pectiniform. The stomach is an elongated sac; the nalatory bladder long and pointed, and the creca numerous. Of all fishes, these have the finest and most numerous bones. CLUPEA, Cuv. The maxillaries arcuated before, and longitudinally divisible in several pieces; opening of the mouth moderate; upper lip entire or not emarginated. C. harengus, L. Bl., 29, J. (The Common Herring.) Teeth visible in both jaws; carina of the abdomen but slightly marked; suboperculum rounded; veins on the suborbital, preoperculumand upper part of the operculum. The ventrals al'ise from under the middle of the dorsal; the length of the head is one-fifth of that of the whole fish, and by transferring backwards the measure of the distance from the snout to the first dorsal, it marks the middle of the caudal. There are sixteen rays in the anal. This celebrated fish leaves the Arctic seas every summer and descends in autumn on the western coast of France in number· less legions, ot· rather in solid shoals of incalculable extent, spawning on theit· \vay, and arriving at the mouth of the British channel in the middle of winter, in a very extenuated condition. Whole fleets are occupied in this fishery, the extent and import· ance of which are too well known to need a comment. The best are those taken in the North; such as are caught on the coast of Lower Normandy are lean, dry, and of a disagreeable flavour. C. aprattus, BI. 29, 2. (The Sprat.) The proportions of the Herring, but a much smaller fish; no veins on the opercula; a gilt band along the flanks in the spawning season.(l) C. latulus, Cuv. Schonefeldt, p. 41. (The White-Bait.) The body more compressed and the abdomen more trenchant than in the Herring; height of the body and length of the head, each (l) Arteui and his succcssoi·s have confounded the SpYat with the S:u·dine. ~1:\.LACOPTEUYGII ATIDOMTNALES. 235 one fourth of the whole length of the fish; the dot·sal more forwards, the anal longer and approaching neat·er to the caudal. A vet·y small fish, of the most brilliant silver colour, with a little black spot on the end of the snout.( 1) C. pilchardus, Bl. 406; and better, Will., pl. 1, f. 1. (The Pilchard.) About tlYe size of the Herring, but with larger scales; the suboperculum square; radiated strire on the preopei ·culum and operculum; the head shorter in propo1·tion than that of the Herring and the dorsal more forward, so that the distance from the snout to the dorsal does not reach the caudal. The ventrals ari~e from und er the end of the dorsal; the1•e are eighteen rays in the anal, and on each side of the caudal are extended two scales longer than the rest. It is preferred to the Herring, particularly on the western coast of England. C. sardina, Cuv.; Duham., Sect. III, pl. xvi, f. 4. (The Sardine.) So similar to the Pilchard, that the only perceptible difference is its inferior size. It is celebrated for the extreme delicacy of its flavour, and the numbers which are taken on the coast of Brittany. It is also captured in the Mediterranean, where the Herring is unknown.(2) The ALosA, Cuv. Differs from Clupea, properly so styled, in an emargination of the middle of the upper jaw; all the other characters are those of the Pilchard and Sardine. .R.. vulgaris; Clupea alosa, L., Duham., Sect. lii, pl. 1, f. 1. (Th~ ~had.) A much larger and thicker fish than the Herring, attammg a length of three feet, and distinguished by the absence of sensible teeth and by an irregular black spot behind the gills. It ascends the rivers in spring, and is then highly esteemed; when taken at sea it is dry and of a disagreeable flavour . .R..finta, Cuv.; Cl.finta, Lac.; the Venth of Flanders; .flgone of Lombardy; .filachia of Italy, &c. More elongated than the (1) Species allied in form to the latulus: the Cailleu (Cl. clupeola, Cuv.), Duham., Sect. III, pl. xxxi, f. 3 ;-the Sardine de la Martinique ( Cl. humeral~, Cuv. ), Dubam., lb., f. 4;-Cl. melanura, Cuv., Lacep., V, xi, 3, under the name of Cl~panodon Jussieu, but the description of which belongs to fig. xi, 3, called a Val'lety of the Clupanodon chinois,·-01. coval, Cuv., &c. (2) We may also separate from the true Herrino-s the .ktno-artoo Russel 191 or th Cl ,., t. ' ' ' . e upea mela8toma, Schn.; and his Ditclu:ee, 192, which have the dorsal poste-rtor to the ventrals, and a long anal. \ |
