452 ESOCID.E. 



from the circumstance that the size attained by the fry in 

 the months of July and August, as well as the general simi- 

 larity in the form and appearance of the Hemiramphus to 

 our well-known Garfish and Saury-pike, would lead to the be- 

 lief that the Hemiramphus visited our shores about the same 

 time of the year as these fishes. The Garfish appears on the 

 coast in April, and spawns in May ; the Saury-pike makes 

 its first appearance in June. For these fish, but particu- 

 larly for the former, nets are worked on various parts of 

 the coast, and considerable quantities are taken ; but no 

 adult specimens of Hemiramphus, unless we are to suppose 

 they have remained hitherto unrecognised by the fishermen. 

 It is also not a little singular, that up to the present time, 

 with the exception of the small specimens already referred to, 

 as taken at two places very distant from each other, no ex- 

 ample of any species of Hemiramphus has been found, either 

 in the Mediterranean, the Channel, or in the North seas. I 

 have lately had an opportunity of conversing with two emi- 

 nent foreign naturalists, to whom I showed the specimens, 

 who agreed with me that no adult species of Hemiramphus 

 had been recorded as found in the seas of Europe. 



The question hazarded in the Supplement, Is this fish, 

 with its unequally developed jaws, the very young state of 

 our common Garfish (Belone vulgarisj? is now answered, 

 that it is not ; Mr. George Clarke having found the fry of 

 the Garfish so small as only to measure one inch, with both 

 the jaws of equal length, as mentioned in the article on that 

 species, at page 443. 



The two examples obligingly sent me by Dr. Clarke, are 

 too young and too minute to make any attempt to define 

 specific characters desirable, beyond such as the remarks of 

 Mr. Couch, and the representation here given will supply ; 

 and I only propose, for distinction's sake, that it should lie 

 called Hemiramphus 



