The American shad is the best food-fish in the family, peculiarly delicate in flavor when broiled, but, to a greater degree than occurs in any other good food-fish, its flesh is crowded with small bones. The shad has been successfully introduced into the waters of California, where it abounds from Puget Sound to Point Concepcion, ascending the rivers to spawn in May as in its native region, the Atlantic coast. The genus _Sardinella_ includes species of rich flesh and feeble skeleton, excellent when broiled, when they may be eaten bones and all. This condition favors their preservation in oil as "sardines." All the species are alike excellent for this purpose. The sardine of Europe is the _Sardinella pilchardus_, known in England as the pilchard. The "Sardina de España" of Cuba is _Sardinella pseudohispanica_, the sardine of California, _Sardinella cærulea_. _Sardinella sagax_ abounds in Chile, and _Sardinella melanosticta_ is the valued sardine of Japan. In the tropical Pacific occur other valued species, largely belonging to the genus _Kowala_. The genus _Harengula_ contains small species with very large, firm scales which do not fall when touched, as is generally the case with the sardines. Most common of these is _Harengula sardina_ of the West Indies. Similar species occur in southern Europe and in Japan. [Illustration: FIG. 40.—Menhaden, _Brevoortia tyrannus_ (Latrobe). Wood's Hole, Mass. ] In _Opisthonema_, the thread-herring, the last dorsal ray is much produced, as in the gizzard-shad and the tarpon. The two species known are abundant, but of little commercial importance. Of greater value are the menhaden, or the moss-bunker, _Brevoortia tyrannus_, inhabiting the sandy coasts from New England southward. It is a coarse and bony fish, rarely eaten when adult, although the young in oil makes acceptable sardines. It is used chiefly for oil, the annual yield exceeding in value that of whale-oil. The refuse is used as manure, a purpose for which the fishes are often taken without preparation, being carried directly to the cornfields. From its abundance this species of inferior flesh exceeds in commercial value almost all other American fishes excepting the cod, the herring, and the quinnat salmon. One of the most complete of fish biographies is that of Dr. G. Brown Goode on the "Natural and Economic History of Menhaden." Numerous other herring-like forms, usually with compressed bodies, dry and bony flesh, and serrated bellies, abound in the tropics and are largely salted and dried by the Chinese. Among these are _Ilisha elongata_ of the Chinese coast. Related forms occur in Mexico and Brazil.