168 CARTER. 



larger size, one example measuring twenty-one inches, and the 

 weight of another was four pounds, and in plumpness it much 

 excels the Carter. The comparative breadth of the former is 

 also more considerable, being equal to the length from the 

 snout to the angle of the curve of the lateral line; while in 

 the Carter the same breadth (or depth) is only equal to the 

 length from the snout to the extent of two thirds of the 



O 



pectoral fin, the breadth of the body being also carried 

 backward more considerably towards the tail. In the Sail Fluke 

 the measure of the head, from the snout to the extreme 

 border of the gill-cover, is a little more than a third of the 

 length of the body as it ends in the insertion of the rays of 

 the tail, which exceeds a like measure in the Carter, in which 

 fish the middle rays of the tail are less extended. 



But the difference between these fishes is particularly to be 

 noticed in the difference of situation of their ventral fins, the 

 one or two first rays of the anal fin in the Sail Fluke being 

 embraced within the ventrals, which also conceal the vent; 

 whereas in a Carter of the same length the space between the 

 last rays of the ventrals and the first of the anal is about 

 half an inch. And this circumstance, with the measurement in 

 the Sail Fluke, is the more worthy of notice, as both of my 

 specimens were alike in this respect, while the figure engraved 

 in Sir John Richardson's (third) "Supplement to Yarrell's 

 British Fishes," represents a space between the ventral and 

 anal fins. 



For the better distinguishing between these fishes we add a 

 particular description of the Carter: The extreme length of 

 the specimen was eighteen inches; the depth, about the middle 

 of the body, and exclusive of the fins, six inches; from the 

 point of the lower jaw to the hindmost border of the gill-cover 

 four inches and a quarter. Gape wide; beneath the lower jaw 

 a firm, pointed, angular process. Several rows of conical, 

 somewhat incurved teeth, with a vacancy among them at the 

 symphysis of the jaw; a very small patch of teeth in the 

 palate, with a pair that are larger than those in the jaws. 

 Body thin; head bony; eyes large, the lowermost moderately 

 prominent, the upper sunk within a wide socket. Body and 

 head, with upper part of dorsal and anal fins, covered with 

 scales, which are ciliated at the edges; anterior nostril having 



