282 GOBTAD.E. 



frequently taken by the net : it is, however, sometimes cap- 

 tured in that manner on the coast of South Devon, particu- 

 larly in the estuary of Kingsbriclge, from whence, says Co- 

 lonel Montagu, we have obtained several specimens of toler- 

 able size, the largest about five inches. 



" The head is large, the cheeks inflated, and the lips 

 very thick ; the mouth is wide, and furnished with numerous 

 small and very short teeth in several indistinct rows in both 

 jaws : the under jaw is roughened by them like a rasp : 

 the eyes are high up on the head, and approximate ; the 

 upper part of them dusky, partaking of the colour of the 

 head, the lower part of the irides golden : between the eyes 

 are two small pores, the anterior one more than double the 

 size of the other, but not distinguishable without the assist- 

 ance of a lens : the nostrils are placed before the eyes, on the 

 outside of each of which is a small fleshy appendage, rather 

 elevated. The cheeks and opercula of the gills are furnished 

 with lines of very minute papillae, which appear like spines : 

 most of these lines are transverse, but some run longitudi- 

 nally, observable only with the aid of a glass. On the top of 

 the head a longitudinal sulcus runs as far as the commence- 

 ment of the first dorsal fin. The colour is uniformly dusky 

 in the more matured fishes, except from the chin to the 

 vent, which is whitish, with some deep purplish black be- 

 tween the gills beneath ; the ventral fins usually more or less 

 black. It is, when fresh, covered with a thick mucous secre- 

 tion ; but after having been in spirits, the fish becomes 

 extremely rough to the touch if rubbed the reverse way. 

 This roughness is occasioned by the scales, which are large in 

 proportion, being ciliated at their free edges." 



" The ventral fins, which supply the great generic cha- 

 racter, are connected, forming a funnel-shaped appendage 

 of twelve branched rays ; and the anus is furnished with an 

 elongated tubercle. We never could discover that the 



