Mr. F. M'Coy on the Irish species of Cephaloptera. 177 



Scouler, Lecturer on Geology and Keeper of the Museum to the 

 above Society, has always permitted me to examine and describe 

 any objects which interested me in the Museum under his care ; 

 and he it was, I believe, who first drew Mr. Thompson's attention 

 to this most interesting addition to the British fauna, and noted 

 its genus. 



The specimen in question was first publicly noticed by Mr. 

 Thompson in a communication to the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don (Proc. June 5, 1835), and the particulars which he gives of 

 its capture on the Irish coast are all I know on that point, having 

 failed in my inquiries for any information in addition to that 

 which has been published on his authority. That gentleman 

 however neither described nor figured the specimen, merely no- 

 ticing its general resemblance to the figure given by Risso of the 

 Cephaloptera Giorna ; subsequent writers seem to have in some 

 manner mistaken the passage, as they make the reference to that 

 species decisive, which, as 1 have stated, was not the case in the 

 original notice. 



I might here suggest, that according to the rule of priority, 

 DumeriFs name Cephaloptera should not be retained for this 

 genus, having been previously used by Geoffroy St. Hilaire for a 

 genus of Coracince, formed for the reception of that remarkable 

 bird the Coracina cephaloptera of Vieillot ; it has been proposed 

 to alter the name of the genus of Fish to Pterocephala, which it 

 would be well to adopt. 



On examining this very interesting specimen, 1 found that 

 although obviously a Pterocephala, yet it presented most import- 

 ant differences from the C. Giorna, both in outline, proportions, 

 shape of the fins, and form of the wing-like appendages to the 

 head ; neither does it agree with any of the European or Ame- 

 rican species described by modern writers, so far as I have seen, 

 but seems referable to that described many years ago, from the 

 coast of Tuscany, by Dr. Fabroni of Florence, and figured by La- 

 cepede under the name of Raja Fabroniana in honour of its dis- 

 coverer. This species seems to have been lost, Cuvier and most 

 other ichthyologists throwing a doubt on its existence, and sup- 

 posing the figure referred to, to represent a mutilated example of 

 the common C. Giorna ; it is therefore doubly interesting to redis- 

 cover it in our own seas, as an addition to the fauna and as replacing 

 an old species in the systems. The P. Fabroniana differs from the 

 P. Giorna in the length of the body (exclusive of the whip-like tail) 

 being nearly one-half of the width from tip to tip of the pectoral 

 fins, while the length is not more than one-third of the width in 

 the latter species. Besides this great proportional width of the 

 P. Giorna, its pectorals are much narrower than in the present 

 fish, and nearly straight, while in the P. Fabroniana they are 



Ann,^ Mag, N. Hist. Fo/.xix. 13 



