FAMILY SPARID.E — SARGUS. 93 



THE RHOMBOIDAL PORGEE. 



Sargus rhomboides. 



PLATE LXXI. FIG. 228. 



Spans rhomboides. Lin. Syst. Nat. 12 Eil. p. 170. 



S. id. Salt-water Bream. SoHtEPFF, Desc. of North Am. Fishes, I. c. Vol. 8, p. 151. 



Le Sargiie rhombbide, S. rhoinboides. Cov. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 6. p. 68, pi. 143. 



Characteristics. Banded. Cutting teeth, eight above and eight below, notched on their 

 summits. Length three to five inches. 



Description. Snout somewhat elongated. Second anal spine very robust. Teeth small, 

 with eight incisors above, and the same number beneath ; but two rows of molars. 



Color, from, a cabinet specimen. Silvery, with twenty-four or five gilded longitudinal 

 lines ; four or five brownish, more or less evident in certain lights, descend from the back 

 along the sides. A blackish spot on the lateral line, behind the humeral bone. Dorsal greyish ; 

 anal yellow, bordered with violet ; caudal yellowish olive. Pectorals and ventrals appear to 

 have been of a brighter yellow than the other fins. 



Length, 3-0-5-0. 



Fin rays, D. 12.11; P. 17; V. 1.5; A. 3.10; C. 17. 



Such is the succinct account given by Cuvier and Valenciennes of a species which they 

 presume must be common on the coast of New- York, by the great numbers sent to them from 

 that place by M. Milbert. We have seen, in the preceding article, that although it bears a 

 general resemblance to the Sand Porgee, yet it cannot be generically that species. It occurs 

 along the southern coast as far as the Mississippi. It may possibly be a migratory species, 

 whose range within some years past has been restricted. We cannot coincide with the above 

 cited authors in supposing this to be the Poki or Porgee at New-York of SchospfT (p. 153). 

 His account is very imperfect, but we gather from it that his Porgee has no spots nor stripes ; 

 moreover, in another place (p. 151), he cites the true Sparus rhomboides of Linneus. At 

 p. 154, he describes a Sparus from Rhode Island, which resembles the Sargus of Cuvier in 

 its banded body ; but it has seventeen spinous rays to its dorsal, and has an undivided tail. 



