io8 SILVERY SALMON. 



numerous X-shaped marks or ocellated black spots, with red ones along and below the lateral 

 line; the dorsal fin has round black spots; the teeth are strong. 



The term brachypoma from ^payii, "short," and -rrcofia, "a lid or cover," has reference to 

 the small size of the gill-cover. 



This fish grows to a considerable size, the largest specimen in the British Museum is 

 thirty inches long. 



Whether this species is abundant or not I cannot say ; nor do I know anything as to the 

 quality of its flesh. I applied to the authorities at the museum in Edinburgh for information 

 as to this species, but nothing apparently was known about it ; and there was not a specimen 

 in the collection. I hope to be more successful another year. 



The number of rays in the fins is 



Dorsal 13. 

 Pectoral 14. 

 Ventral 9. 

 Anal I o — 1 1 . 



The figure is from a specimen twenty-seven inches and a half long, now in the British 

 ^Museum. 



Order IV. Family 



PHY&OBTOML S.AMIOmD^. 



Suh-generic Group — Salmon ES. 



Silvery Salmon. 



[Sahno argciifcus.) 



Fario argenleus, La Forelle argentie, Cuv. and Valenc, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons vol. xxi. 



p. 2g-i--2()7, ed. 1828. 

 Salmo argenleus, Gunther's Cat. vi. p. 86. 



THIS species is described by Cuvier and Valenciennes as having the form of a Salmon, 

 and being in colour greenish, approaching olive grey on the back ; the sides and the 

 belly have a beautiful silvery brilliancy ; the size of the specimens shown in the Paris markets 

 is sometimes as much as two feet and a half, and it is not uncommon to see specimens two 

 feet long. The Silvery Salmon is a migratory species of the Atlantic rivers of France, 

 occasionally occurring on the coast of England. There is a specimen of a female twenty-six 

 inches long now in the British Museum ; it came from the river Rhymney, in Montgomery- 

 shire, and had been kept for a short time in a fresh-water pond. It is a well-marked 

 species, having a remarkably long head, being a fourth of the total length, without 

 caudal ; the prseoperculum has a distinct lower limb, and its posterior margin waved ; the 

 maxillary is very broad and strong, and extends beyond the orbit of the eye ; the fins are 

 well developed ; the pectorals are ver}' broad and strong, and somewhat pointed at the 



