106 MALACOP. ABDOM. PIKE FAMILY. 



him by Dr. Clark of Ipswich, in 1837- The facts 

 are soon stated ; Mr. Couch captured, in the har- 

 bour of Palperro, in July 1818, a little fish which 

 was swimming with agility near the surface of the 

 water, and which he conceived might be the Hemi- 

 ramphus Brasiliensis of Cuvier. It was an inch in 

 length, with the head somewhat flattened at top; 

 the upper jaw short and pointed ; the lower much 

 protruded, the mouth opening obliquely downwards, 

 although the part of the lower jaw which protruded 

 beyond the upper, passed straight forward in a right 

 line with the top of the head ; the body was com- 

 pressed, lengthened, and resembled that of the Gar- 

 fish : it had one dorsal, and anal fin, placed far back, 

 and opposite each other ; the tail was straight ; the 

 colour of the back bluish green, spotted ; the abdo- 

 men silvery. It was in August 1837 that Mr. Clark, 

 when examining the sea-shore between Harwich 

 and Orford, observed a shoal consisting of myriads 

 of small fish between one and two inches long, 

 which he took to be the young of the Garfish. This 

 conclusion, however, on further examination, was 

 discovered to be incorrect, the fry of the Garfish, 

 when measuring only one inch, being found w^ith 

 jaws of equal length : they therefore belonged to a 

 species of Hemiramphus, whose precise species how- 

 ever, from their minute size, it is perhaps impossible 

 to determine ; whilst their great abundance in a pool 

 left by the receding tide, makes it evident they must 

 have been deposited and vivified in the neighbour- 

 ing shores. These are the only instances in which 



