Fishes of Brookhaven. L. I. 291 



snout ; jaws lined with numerous blunt, tesselated teeth. Nostrils about 

 an inch and a half anterior to the mouth, each provided with a valve, and 

 having a depression or channel leading back almost to the corner of the 

 mouth. Branchial apertures five on each side ; distance between the ante- 

 rior pair four inches. Spiracles situated behind the eyes, elliptical, one 

 and a half inches in length. 



On the tail are two reversely serrated spines, one situated directly above 

 the other, of which the upper one is the shorter ; their lengths are two 

 and three fourths, and three and three fourth inches. Their insertion is at 

 about five and a half inches from the origin of the tail ; in color they are 

 dingy white. 



Immediately before them is a small dorsal fin, one and a half inches in 

 length, and one inch in height. Tail very slender, smooth to the tip, the 

 inferior surface presenting no vestige whatever of fins. Anus beneath the 

 origin of the tail ; immediately posterior to it are two cylindrical, or slightly 

 conic, appendages, three and three fourth inches in length. 



As the specimen here described is the only one which has fallen under 

 my notice, I am of course unable to determine whether all the characters 

 which have been stated will prove to be constant. With respect to one, 

 the relative length of the two spines upon the tail, variation may probably 

 be expected. The upper spine will, in some instances, doubtless be the 

 longer of the two. The specimen figured was apparently a male ; it was 

 obtained at the same place with the preceding species. 



I have thus completed my notice of the fishes occurring in 

 Brookhaven. That it is a complete list I am very far from 

 believing. I was there but three years, and I have confined 

 my remarks, with two exceptions, to those which I myself ob- 

 served during that time. Those two, the drum-fish and the 

 mackerel, are species so well known that I thought myself safe 

 in admitting them from the accounts of the fishermen. If I 

 had been willing to include those of which I had received sat- 

 isfactory information, but of which I had not seen specimens, 

 a few more species might have been added. In two instances 

 fish were described to me as having been taken, one at Green- 

 port and the other at Miller's Place, which attracted attention 

 from the singular structure of the head, and which were evi- 

 dently Rcmoras, but of what species I could not of course 

 determine. Lampreys also arc taken every year in the Con- 

 necticut River at Fireplace ; they are, I suppose, the Petro- 

 myzon americamis of Le Sueur. I heard also of two or three 

 species of sharks which I did not see ; and of a fish called in 



