218 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. COD FAMILY. 



nence to be easily felt by the finger. The presence 

 of these tubercles was thought by Dr. Fleming to 

 distinguish R. trifurcatus from the Lest Hake of 

 Pennant or the " Barhus minor Cornuhiensis" of 

 Mr. Jago, and he accordingly named the latter B, 

 Jago after its discoverer. But after what has been 

 stated it is obvious that this distinction cannot be 

 maintained, as has been sufiiciently shown both by 

 Dr. Johnson* and Mr. Yarrell. The structure of 

 the first dorsal appears to be similar to that of the 

 genus Motella already described, consisting of a 

 few slender rays, which are lodged in a kind of 

 groove ; but the accounts given of this fin some- 

 what differ, Dr. Johnson simply stating that it is 

 very minute, and tervninates in a rather long ray; 

 if this refers to its anterior termination, this assimi- 

 lates it closely to the corresponding fin of the Rock- 

 lings. But Dr. Parnell says that the first dorsal is 

 composed of three small rays, the mi Idle of which 

 is the longest, and they are thus represented in the 

 coloured engraving of the fish which appeared in 

 the Magazine of Zoology and Botany. Impressions 

 from this same plate accompany Dr. ParneU's Essay 

 on the Fishes of the Forth, from which Mr. Yarrell's 

 wood-cut is engraved ; if the representation of this 

 fin be erroneous, the error, therefore, is likely to be 

 propagated. The point in question is not an un- 

 important one, as it throws light on the analogical 

 relations of this curious fish. 



* See Address to the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club for 

 1832, — quoted also by Mr. Yarrell. 



