Mr. W. Thompson on a new British Fish, 411 



as a compliment well merited by Mr. Couch for his practical 

 knowledge of fishes, that the genus be named after him, 

 Couchia. To the Strangford species the name of minor may 

 be given. 



Generic characters, — Couchia. Body elongate, compressed 

 posteriorly : first dorsal fin, like that of Motella, very low, 

 composed of soft rays unconnected by a membrane : pectorals 

 and ventrals placed high : second dorsal and anal fin long : 

 divisions of opercle well defined exteriorly. 



Specific characters. — Couchia minor. (Plate XVI. fig. 1.) 

 Lesser Mackerel Midge. Upper jaw the longer: ventrals 

 long (from \ to £th the length of head), and black at their 

 termination : sides silvery*. 



The Gadus argenteolus (PL XVI. fig. 2.) of Montagu c Wern 

 Mem/, v. ii. p. 449. must be adverted to in connexion with the 

 present species. By its describer, it is stated to be Ci nearly 

 allied to the three-bearded Cod, Gadus Mustela, in most par- 

 ticulars ; but the shape of the head and the colour f are essen- 

 tially different." It was the striking dissimilarity presented 

 by a comparison of specimens of C. glauca and Mot. quinque- 

 cirrata in these very characters, that led me to re-separate 

 them generically ; and consequently the C. glauca and G. ar- 

 genteolus may, from agreement in these points, be in the first 

 place regarded of the same genus J as here defined. On 



I know not whether this term itself has been used, appears, from Jourdan's 

 1 Diet, des Termes,' &c, to have been adopted in a somewhat similar sense 

 by four different authors. 



* The absence of cirri is not given as a character, as better vision than 

 mine may yet detect them. 



f The name of Whitebait (Clupea alba), which Montagu mentions as ap- 

 plied to the G. argenteolus by the fishermen, however erroneously, is suffi- 

 ciently indicative of its Clupea-like aspect. 



X Montagu remarks of the G. argenteolus, that " the whole fish is of a 

 silvery resplendence except the back, which is blue changeable to dark 

 green ; " and that the three-bearded Cod he has " taken of all sizes, from 

 the most minute to its full growth of 16 or 17 inches, and never ob- 

 served it to vary in colour, except as it grows large it becomes more rufous, 

 and throws out spots, which is never observed till it exceeds 6 or 7 inches, 

 but is invariably rufous-brown in its infant state." As a general descrip- 

 tion, this is equally applicable to the five-bearded Cod {Mot. quinquecirrata), 

 of which I have however taken spotted examples smaller than has been just 

 noticed. Specimens now before me of different sizes, from 1^ to 5^ inches 

 in length, are of a tolerably uniform brown colour on the head, back, sides 

 and fins, varied only in the larger individuals by yellowish white at the an- 



