FAMILY SCIENID.E POGONIAS. 81 



ingly short ; the second long, flat and stout ; the remainder seven branched, the last subdi- 

 vided. Caudal even, with scales extending over its base, and more particularly along its 

 central rays. Air-bladder very large and oval, and with exceedingly thick coats ; it has on 

 its sides two pointed lobes, directed backward, and which are festooned on their margins. A 

 large red gland within, and several distinct lacuna;. Spleen very long ; csecal appendages six 

 to eight. Vertebra; twenty-four. 



Color. Brownish bronze ; rather lighter beneath, with a blackish spot behind the pectorals. 

 Scales silvery on their external edges. There are two strongly marked varieties : one dark 

 brown, the Black Drum of the fishermen ; and the other the Red Drum, as these colors pre- 

 dominate. 



Length, 24-0-48-0. 



Fin rays, D. 9.1.22; P. 18; V. 6 ; A. 2.7; C. 17 f. 



This is a large and deep fish ; its length being usually about three feet, with a depth of 

 from fifteen to eighteen inches. One of this size weighs about twenty-five pounds. I have 

 heard of their weighing more than eighty pounds. They are gregarious, and are frequently 

 taken in great numbers by the seine, during the summer, along the bays and inlets of Long 

 Island. Their present geographical range appears to extend from Florida to New- York. I 

 do not find them mentioned by Dr. Storer as occurring on the coast of Massachusetts. They 

 are a coarse food, but the young are considered as a great delicacy. 



THE BANDED DRUM. 



POGONIAS FASCIATUS. 



PLATE XIV. FIG. 40. 



Pogonias fasciatus. Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des Poissons. 



Mugil grunniens. Mitchill, Report in part, &c. p. 16. 



Labrus grunniens, Grunts. Id. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. Vol. 1, p. 405, pi. 3, fig. 3. 



Le Pogonias a bandes. Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 5, p. 210, pi. 118. 



Characteristics. Dusky, with four or five blackish vertical bands extending down the sides. 

 Length seven to ten inches. 



Description. Body compressed ; more along the back than beneath, and thus giving a 

 triquetral figure to a transverse section of the body. Head sloping from the first dorsal to a 

 short distance before the eyes, then more suddenly descending. Scales over the whole body 

 and the head, except the anterior part of the snout and the lower jaw. They rise up along 

 the base of the second dorsal, forming a sort of sheath : on the head they are small, wedge- 

 shaped, ciliate ; on the body, large and orbicular ; the exposed surface small and ciliate, the 

 concealed portion with radiating furrows and minute concentric striae. Lateral line concurrent 

 with the back. Eyes large, with a prominent superciliary ridge. Nostrils double ; the 

 posterior transversely oval. On the outer sides of the jaws, midway between the tip of the 



Fauna — Part 4. 11 



