SORDID DRAOONET. 303 



Zoological Journal, page 336, (note,) that he had found 

 a Sordid Dragonct, with a milt, or soft roe. The differences 

 between the two fishes are on some points so great and so 

 obvious, that I have considered them distinct. Mr. Couch 

 has observed a certain difference in their habits : " The Yel- 

 low Skulpin prefers deeper water ; whereas the other will 

 often approach the margin of the tide, where I have watched 

 its actions with great interest. They keep at the bottom, 

 among sand or stones, and never rise but to pass from one 

 station to another, which is done with great suddenness and 

 rapidity. They possess great quickness of sight, and dart 

 with swiftness when alarmed, though not to a great distance ; 

 and I have seen the Sordid Skulpin repeatedly mount after 

 prey, and invariably return to the same spot again. This 

 motion is chiefly performed by the ventral fins ; and the eye 

 is well adapted to the habit, the muscles of that organ being 

 fitted to direct the sight upward, but not downward. They 

 sometimes take the hook, though rarely ; and they are much 

 devoured by the larger fish, in the stomachs of which they 

 are often found. They feed on shell-fish, worms, and mol- 

 luscous animals." 



The whole length of the specimen described was nine 

 inches ; the length of the head compared to the whole length 

 of the fish as one to five ; the head triangular, as wide as it 

 is long ; bot^i head and body much more depressed than those 

 of C. li/ra ; the eyes removed only one diameter of the orbit 

 from the nose ; the mouth measured but half an inch from 

 the angle of the gape to the point of the upper jaw ; the pre- 

 opcrculum armed with three spines ; the fins similar to those 

 of C. li/ra in situation and in the number of fin-rays, but the 

 rays of the first dorsal fin are shorter than those of the second 

 dorsal fin, and the rays of the second dorsal fin are of uniform 

 length. The numbers of the fin-rays are 



D. 4. 9 : P. 20 ; V. 5 : A. 9 : C. 10. 



