Ophidium FISHES. MALACOPT. 201 



ingly a rare species, it has since been found by Mr Lewis Morris, the Rev. 

 H. Davis, and Mr Anstice. 



Gen. LII. OPHIDIUM. Anal, dorsal, and caudal fins 



united ; tail pointed. 



112. O. imberbe. — Lower jaw beardless. 



Linn. Syst. i. 431. Perm. Brit. Zool. iii. 398. Mcnt. Wern. Mem. i. 95. 

 t. iv. f. 2 — Coast of Devon. 



Length 3 inches. Purplish brown ; bluish spots along the base of the anal 

 fin. Head obtuse, body compressed towards the tail. Mouth ascending; 

 lips marginated. Eyes large ; irides dark, with a silvery circle round the 

 pupil. Vent near the middle. D. 77, P. 11, A. 44, C. 18. Pectorals round- 

 ed ; the dorsal fin commencing immediately above them This species, as a 



British production, was first communicated to Pennant from Weymouth by 

 the Duchess Dowager of Portland. Montagu has since found it on the south 

 coast of Devon. 



The O. barbutum, a species readily distinguished from the preceding by the 

 lower jaw having two bifid cirri, has been noticed by Berkenhout in his Sy- 

 nopsis, p. 66. as a British production, without any intimation respecting the 

 circumstances of its capture. He, however, takes no notice of the O. imber- 

 be, which had previously appeared in the British Zoology. 



Gen. LIII. AMMODYTES. L a unce.— Dorsal, anal, and 

 caudal fins disjoined. Neither coeca nor air-bag. Tail 

 forked. 



1 13. A. Tob'ianus. Common Launce. — Lower jaw longest ; 

 lips protrusile forwards and downwards. 



Sandils, Merr. Pin. 187 — Ammodites, Sibb. Scot. 24. Will. Ich. 113 



Amm. Tob. i. 430. Perm. Brit. Zool. iii. 156 Common on sandy 



shores. 



Length 3 to 5 inches. Above bluish-green, with a darker band on each 

 side ; sides and belly silvery. Head small, pointed. Irides silvery. Late- 

 ral line straight. D. 54, P. 15, A. 28, C. 16 — This species is the"favourite 

 food of salmon and many other kinds of fish — M. Lesauvage, in the Bulletin 

 des Sciences, Sept. 1824, has instituted another species of this genus which 

 he terms A. lanceolatus, and which has probably in this country been con- 

 founded with the preceding. He assigns to it the following character : " B. 

 7, D. 58, P. 13, A. 30, C. 16. Lon. 9 pouces, machoire extensible se redres- 

 sant verticalement, en entrainant dans sa direction l'extremite mobile de la 

 machoire non extensible." 



