Description of a new British Fish. 17 



Art. III. Description of a new British Fish. By Edward Moore, 

 M.D. F.L.S., Secretary to the Plymouth Institution. 



I transmit, for insertion in your Magazine, a description 

 and rough sketch of a fish caught on the usual fishing- 

 ground between Plymouth and the Eddystone, by the crew of 

 a trawl sloop belonging to Mr. Bulley of this town, and 

 brought fresh to me by Mr. W. Snow Harris, F.R.S. ; in 

 which state it was also seen by Lieut-Col. C. Hamilton 

 Smith. It has shlce been inspected by Mr. Couch of Pol- 

 perro and Mr. Yarrell, both of whom pronounce it new to 

 Britain. The characters are as follows : — It is the Peri- 

 stedion Malarmat of Lacepede and Cuvier, Trigla cataphracta 

 Un. 9 Mailed Gurnard. Its length is 11 in.; from the nose 

 projects a forked snout 1 in. long, the divisions being half an 

 inch apart at the base, where there are three small mammil- 

 lary projections. From the snout to the base of the pectoral 

 fin, it measures 3jin. ; the head is armed with numerous 

 tooth-like processes, of which three are placed triangularly 

 on the nose, six over the eye, three larger on the forehead, 

 and thence they extend in a serrated manner, down the back 

 to the tail. The orbit of the eye is oval ; iris silvery ; a pro- 

 jecting bony ridge extends across the cheek-plate, from the 

 nose to the base of the pectoral fin ; the jaws are cartilaginous 

 and toothless ; the chin is furnished with several cirri ; at 

 the under side of each division of the snout are three open- 

 ings, covered with a delicate membrane, through which a pin 

 can be easily passed down to the nose. 



The body is octagonal, covered with bony scales, laid over 

 each other like a coat of mail ; from the centre of each scale, 

 forming the edge of the octagon, there projects a sharp hook- 

 like process, together forming eight serrated ridges from 

 head to tail ; the hooks are all shaped as in Jig. 2. b, except 

 on the last twelve scales of the superior lateral ridge, where 

 they assume the character exemplified in Jig. 2. a. Their num- 

 ber is as follows : — Dorsal ridge, twenty-nine scales ; supe- 



Vol. I. — No. I. n.s. c 



