128 



BLENNOID FOEKBEARD. 



Lesser Hahe, ■ Pennant; pi. 32, edition of 1770. 



Fltycis hlenno'ides, Guntjiek's Catalogue British Museum, 



vol. iv, p. 351. 



It is tlic opinion of Cuvier as well as of Dr. Guntlier that 

 tliis and the last-named arc the same species; and with such 

 an authority we leave the subject as it stands; but it is 

 certain that the aspect of these fishes, as I am accustomed to 

 see them, is not a little different, as will be discerned from 

 the figures we have given, which are those of an example 

 that measured in length twenty-eight inches, and of a young 

 one of the length of four inches, which was drawn \\\) in 

 the shell of a living Pinna ingens from the depth of about 

 forty fathoms. It is remarkable that this young example, which 

 will be described in reference to the larger specimen, and 

 which, although injured, has been sent to the British Museum, 

 with another of nearly like size mentioned by Mr. Yarrell, 

 were taken in the same manner, although with the lapse of 

 several years between, are the only fishes I have ever known 

 to be so caught, although the Pinnce are often drawn up by the 

 lines of fishermen. The proportions of the body in what we 

 term the Blennoid Forkbeard are more slender than what we 

 have noticed in the Hake's Dame; the depth of the body in 

 the latter in front of the second dorsal fin, where it is deej^est 

 measuring one fourth of the length from the snout to the root 

 of the tail, while in the Blennoid sjDccies it is equal to five 

 portions and three fourths of the same length. In the first 

 named fish also the slojiing forward of the body begins behind 

 the first dorsal fin, but in the Blennoid fish it scarcely begins 

 to slope until over the eye; the imder jaw also appeared 

 decidedly shorter in projJortion, and the lateral line less bent 

 in its progress. It is a subject of regret that the scales were 



