^97 



ARGENTINA. 



The mouth small, depressed at the angle; jaws without teeth; 

 strong hooked teeth on tlae tongue, and a transverse row of small 

 teeth in front of the vomer. Six rays in the gill membrat;e. Dorsal 

 fin before the ventrals. The adipose fin in one species is so small as 

 sometimes to have escaped observation. 



HEBRIDAL SMELT. 



Osmeras TIehrulicns, Hebridal Smelt, Yarkell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, 



p. 133. 

 Bloch; by Schneider, pi. 81, 



Salmo silus. 

 Argentina silus junior, Nilsson. 



This fish was first recognised as British by Mr. Yarrell, 

 Avho believed it to be undescribed when he received it from 

 Mr, Euing, by whom it was obtained from a fisherman in the 

 Isle of Bute, where it had been long knoAvn, although not 

 often taken. Mr. Yarrell judged it to belong to the genus 

 Osmerus, with the characters of which, however, it did not 

 exactly agree, from the position of the dorsal fin, which is 

 situated in advance of the ventrals, and also in the extent of 

 its gape. But this doubt in the classification of fishes closely 

 allied to each other is the more to be excused, as Cuvier, in 

 his "Animal Kingdom," had thought fit to place it in the 

 genus Corcgonus, from Avhence it has been removed by his 

 coadjutor Valenciennes into that of Argentina, with the name 

 of A. YarrelUi; and its place in this genus at least is 

 countenanced by the authority of Nilsson, in his "History of 

 Scandinavian Fishes," whose authority is the more to be 

 regarded, since this species is well known to him as being a 

 native of the German Ocean. It appears to have been called 

 VOL. IV. 2 y 



