B LOCH'S TOPKNOT. 339 



German is given in M. Wiegmann's Archives for 1840, it 

 appears that the Swedish Ichthyologist had obtained an exam- 

 ple of the P. punctatus of Bloch, which fish had not been 

 recognised as a distinct Scandinavian species. The examina- 

 tion of this specimen had satisfied M. Fries that the views of 

 Mr. Jcnyns and myself were correct as to the distinctions be- 

 tween the P. hirtus of Muller and the P. punctatus of Bloch. 



Dr. Fleming procured the true punctatus in Zetland, 

 where, according to the testimony of the fishermen, it is 

 not uncommon. Professor Henslow obtained at Weymouth 

 the specimen from which Mr. Jenyns' description and the 

 figure here inserted were taken. A third example has been 

 caught on the coast of the North of Ireland, as recorded by 

 Mr. William Thompson of Belfast. A comparison of the 

 figures and descriptions referred to under the present fish 

 with those of the Rhombus unimaculatus of M. Risso, in 

 his Histoire Naturelle, will convince the observer that they 

 are intended for the same fish. 



Bloch, if he has correctly figured his species, was, I 

 think, mistaken in supposing his fish to be the same as 

 Le Gros Plie ou Targeur of Duhamel ; as the separation 

 between the ventral and the anal fins, and the want of con- 

 nexion between the ends of both dorsal and anal fins with 

 the tail, will demonstrate on comparing the two figures ; 

 but the character and disposition of the spots are something 

 like those of Muller's fish. The figure by Dr. Fleming, in 

 his Philosophy of Zoology, Avants only the greater elongation 

 of the first ray of the dorsal fin, perhaps a sexual distinction, 

 to render it identical with the figure here given, and that by 

 M. Risso. 



I avail myself, by permission, of the very full description 

 of this fish given by Mr. Jenyns in his Manual, taken from 

 the specimen in the collection of the Philosophical Society 

 of Cambridge. 



