162 



SALMONIDE. 



species of the genus, of which he says S. Humboldtii is the 

 best known, but that little is ascertained of their habits. 



Pennant's specimen was taken in the sea near Downing 

 in Flintshire : Mr. Low's fish was brought to him by a boy, 

 who said he found it at the edge of the water among sea- 

 weed. The receipt of an additional portion of MS. recently 

 confided to me by William Walcott, Esq. furnishes a notice, 

 written by his late father, of a third instance of the occur- 

 rence of the Argentine, which was found stranded on the shore 

 near Exmouth : length two inches and a half. Pennant's 

 description is, " Length two inches and a quarter ; the eyes 

 large, the irides silvery ; the lower jaw sloped much ; the 

 teeth small ; the body compressed, and of an equal depth 

 almost to the anal fin ; the tail forked : the back was of a 

 dusky green ; the sides and covers of the gills as if plated 

 with silver ; the lateral line was in the middle, and quite 

 straight : on each side of the belly was a row of circular 

 punctures ; above them another, which ceased near the vent." 

 The formula of the fin-rays appears to be 



D. 9 : P. 17 : V. 8 : A. 15 : C. 19. 



The figure of this fish referred to in M. Risso's work 

 represents the anal fin as containing many more rays than are 

 apparent in the figure by Pennant, from which the represen- 

 tation at the head of this article is copied. 



In the volume of the Magazine of Natural History for the 

 year 1838, Dr. W. B. Clarke, who had found a specimen of 

 the Argentine at Portobello, near Edinburgh, has published 

 a notice of his fish, from which the following is an abstract. 



" I beg leave to transmit, for insertion in the Magazine of 

 Natural History, a sketch and description of a species of 

 Argentine, which I obtained upon the shore of the Frith of 

 Forth, at Portobello, in April 1838. 



" I discovered this highly elegant little fish, whilst looking 



