61 



TTUCHTTTBTTS. 



Iy the form of the body, mouth, and dorsal fin, this genus bears 

 great resemblance to the last; but it differs from it in the absence of 

 the tail; and everything like a ventral fin. In place of an anal fin 

 there is a row of very small spines, and the body at its termination 

 is extended into a slender and compressed cord. 



HAIRTAIL. 



BLADE FISH. 



Lepturus, Artedi. 



TricMurus Lepturus, Linnaeus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. i, 58. 



" Swatnson ; Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 254. 



" Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 204 



" Jektns; Manual, p. 372. 



" Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 204. 



" Gunther; Catalogue of the Br. Museum, 

 vol. ii, p. 346. 



This species was first made known to science by the joint 

 labour of Artedi and Linnams; the first of whom has given a 

 particular description of it, to which we shall again refer. To 

 this Linnreus has added that it is a native of China and 

 America, and has been known in many instances to have 

 leaped out of the water into the boats of fishermen. It is now 

 known to be found in the seas of the West Indies and South 

 America. 



As regards our own country the history of this fish is 

 obscure, and not at all satisfactory. Mr. Hoy was the first to 

 obtain an example, which with some probability he referred to 

 this species; but it was much mutilated by a storm that threw 

 it on the shore in the Firth of Moray, in November, 1810. 

 Quoting from his account in Dr. Fleming's "History of British 



