CYCLOPTERUS LIPARIS. 251 



This animal, which is found on our coasts, seldom exceeds 

 the length of four or eight inches, but such as frequent the 

 shores of Greenland and Kamtschatka are oftentimes of a 

 size far more considerable, being from a foot to eighteen 

 inches in lengrth. 



The flesh of this fish is remarkably soft and oily; it is 

 never eaten except by the inhabitants of Greenland, who 

 devour it with avidity, who esteem it as highly nutritive 

 and delicious. 



The shape of the body of this fish is round, but near the 

 tail it is compressed sideways; the belly is white and very 

 protuberant; the head is large, thick, and round; there are 

 no teeth in the mouth, but the jaws are very wide ; the 

 tongue is very large, the eyes small, the orifice to the gills 

 also small ; it has six branchiostegous rays ; the pectoral fins 

 are very broad, thin, and transparent, uniting almost under 

 the throat ; the first ray next the throat is very long, ex- 

 tending far beyond the rest, and is as fine as a hair ; over 

 the base of each is a sort of speculum or lid, ending in a 

 point; this is capable of being raised or depressed at plea- 

 sure ; behind the head begins the dorsal fin, which extends 

 quite to the end of the tail ; the ventral fin commences at the 

 anus and unites with the other at the tail ; beneath the 

 throat is a round depression of a whitish colour, like the im- 

 pression of a seal surrounded by twelve small pale yellow 

 tubera, of which a representation will be found in the plate ; 

 in all probability it adheres to the stones by this apparatus 

 like the other species. 



In the dorsal fin there are thirty-six rays ; in the pectoral 

 thirty-two ; in the anal twenty-six, and twelve in the tail. 



In the winter 1803, Mr. Donovan accidentally detected 

 a specimen of this fish, amongst a parcel of sprats brought 

 for sale to the fish-market at Billingsgate. 



