182 Store7'^s Descriptions of, and Observatimis on, 



" Silvery hair-tail. (Trichiurus argenteus,) with the lower 

 jaw jutting beyond the upper, and a snake-like tail. 



Length two feet and four inches ; depth at the belly two 

 inches and a half. I measured one August 1, 1814, that was 

 three feet and two inches long, which weighed one pound and 

 a quarter. Figure flat, and thin sideways. Color silvery, 

 with a golden lateral line. This descends from the gill open- 

 ing, and runs low along the belly. Dorsal fin reaches from 

 the back of the head almost to the tail, which is finless, and 

 ends in an attenuated point. No anal nor ventral fins : but a 

 row of notches or spines along the tail, as far forward as the 

 vent, rendering it somewhat carinated. Gill-openings wide. 

 Eyes yellov/, and occupy much space in the flat vertical 

 cheeks. Space between the eyes flattish, giving the head an 

 angular configuration. Nostrfls ample, mouth capacious, and 

 jaws armed with teeth. Lower jaw projects, and has two 

 teeth jutting beyond the upper, when the mouth is shut. 

 The upper jav/ has, in front, from three to six teeth larger 

 than the rest. All the teeth of the larger order are jagged on 

 the inner or hinder sides, with a single barb towards the 

 points. Throat capacious, and tongue smooth. No scales. 

 Laterally the teeth of the upper jaw project over the sides of 

 the lower. And when the jaws are closed, it is frequently 

 possible to look through the mouth from side to side." 



I considered the Fistularia which had belonged to the 

 Cabinet of this Society for several yeais, and which was ta- 

 ken at Holmes' Hole, to be the serrata, Bloch — although I 

 had no volume to refer to, which would settle the matter with 

 certainty. Dr. Dekay assures me that I " was right in the 

 species, as he compared the specimen 1 described, with one he 

 brought from Brazil, some years ago."' By an inadvertency, 

 the specimen I described is said in my Report to be ten inches 

 long : it should read twentyseven inches. 



My friend, C. H. Olmsted, Esq. of Hartford, informs me 

 that the Leuciscus cornutus, (described by Mitchill in the 

 '• American Monthly Magazine," and specimens of which, 

 from New York and Connecticut, we have in our Cabinet,) is 

 common in the small streams of Berkshire County. 



