222 RIBAND-SHAPED. 



Schneider ; Epidesmus of Ranzani ; and Argyclius of Ra- 

 finesque. 



Cuvier adopts the name proposed by Bloch. 



Of the genus Gymnetrus, three species probably belong 

 to the Mediterranean, two to the seas of the North of Eu- 

 rope, and two to India. One Northern species, besides one 

 of those apparently belonging to India, has been taken on the 

 shores of this country. That of the North has occurred more 

 than once in Scotland ; that of India, once on the coast of 

 Cornwall. 



A fish apparently of the species called by Bloch Gymnetrus 

 Hawkenii was drawn on shore dead in a net at Newlin, on 

 the western side of Mounts Bay, on the south coast of Corn- 

 wall, in February 1791 ; from a large original drawing of 

 which, with notes, in the possession of William Rashleigh, 

 Esq. of Menabilly in that county, Mr. Couch's account of it 

 is derived. It is as follows : 



" The length, without the extremity of the tail, which was 

 wanting, was eight and a half feet ; the depth ten and a half 

 inches ; thickness two and three-quarter inches : weight forty 

 pounds. In the drawing, the head ends in a short and ele- 

 vated snout ; eye large ; pectoral fin round ; no anal fin ; the 

 dorsal fin reaches from above the eye to the tail. In the 

 drawing, as well as in Bloch^s engraving, the caudal fin is 

 supplied. The ventrals are formed of four long red pro- 

 cesses, proceeding from the thorax, and ending in a fan- 

 shaped appendage, of which the base is purple, the expansion 

 crimson. The back and belly are dusky green, the sides 

 whitish : the whole varied with clouds and spots of a darker 

 green ; the fins crimson." 



The account given by Bloch is as follows : 



" This fish was sent to me by Mr. Hawken ; from him 

 also I received the drawing. He wrote me at the same time, 

 that the fish was caught near Goa, in the Indian Sea, on the 



