GEMMEOUS DRAGONET. 299 



rare than the Sordid Dragonet. It lias been taken on the 

 coast of Cumberland and at Belfast. Mr. Couch has met 

 with it occasionally in Cornwall, where it frequents deep 

 water, generally keeping close to the bottom. Colonel 

 Montagu considered it rare, and only obtained one specimen, 

 about nine inches long, which was taken off the bar at Sal- 

 combe in Devonshire, in the autumn of 1 809 ; it has also 

 been obtained at Wcymouth and Hastings. On the eastern 

 coast, it has been noticed at Harwich, Yarmouth, Scarbo- 

 rough, and Berwick. Mr. Neill and Dr. Parnell record it 

 among the fishes of the Forth ; and Mr. Low, in his Fauna 

 Orcadensis. It is included by Nilsson among the fishes of 

 the coast of Norway, and is mentioned by most of the 

 Northern Ichthyologists. Brunnich, M. Risso, and the 

 Prince of Musignano, also record this species as belonging to 

 the Mediterranean. 



The Gemmeous Dragonet occasionally takes a bait, but is 

 more frequently caught in a net, sometimes, when of small 

 size, by the shrimpers in sandy bays. Yonng specimens only 

 six inches in length possess the elongated dorsal filament. 

 Its food is testaceous animals, which are swallowed whole, 

 molluscous animals, and worms. The flesh is said to be 

 white, firm, and of good flavour. It is very frequently the 

 prey of other fishes. 



The length of the specimen described was ten inches ; the 

 length of the head, compared to the whole length of the 

 fish, as one to four : the form of the head oblong, ovate, 

 measuring two and a half inches in length, and but one inch 

 and a half in breadth ; the anterior half of the length is before 

 the eyes, the orbits occupy one-third, while the space behind 

 is equal to the breadth of the orbits. The branchial aper- 

 tures are small orifices, one on each side the nape of the neck, 

 at the upper edge of the operculum. The upper part of the 

 head is flat ; the profile of the nose convex ; the under surface 



