A CANTHOPTER YGII. CORYPHJENIDjE, 



TAB. X. 



CORYPH^NA EQUISETIS, Cuv. and Val. 



Dourada/emea. 



Small Specked Dolphin, or Dorado. 



Char. Gen. 



Corpus elongatum, sqiiammulosum. Caput froiite abrapte elevata, declivi : oculis demissis, obli- 

 quis, ad canthos oris approximatis : lingua, vomere, et palatinis scobinato-dentatis. Pinna dorsalis 

 antice altior, a nucha ad caudam fere continua, rivuloso-venosa. 



Obs. — Pisces majores, subtropici, pelagici, navium sequaces, chalybeio-plumbei, flavo loti, mori- 

 bundi pulchre citoque versicolores. 



Char. Spec. 



C. linea frontali semi-perpendiculata : pinnis pectoralibus brevissimis, falcatis : lateribus sparsim 

 arenulis minimis atris raris aspersis, csetera immaculatis. 



7 V. 8 + VIII. 

 D. 53 — 58 ; A. 2 V. 3 + 23 V. 24 ; P. 2 + 18 V. 19 ; V. 1 + 5 ; C. ^ ^ ^^^ 



M. B. 7 ; VertJB. 13 v. 14 abd. + 20 v. 19 caud. = 33. 



C. eqtiisetis, Cuv. and Val. ix. 297. t. 267. — Suppl. Sjm. Fish. Mad. p. 81. 



C Equiselis, Linn. Syst. i. 447, (excl. syn, Marcgr.). 



C. LessoniU Cuv. and Val. IX. 307 ? 



Longit. 1^ — bipedalis = 44 — 5 X alt. 

 Tempus, sestate, autumno. 

 Locus, in alto : vulg. 



The Cortjpheenida, or Dorados, form a well-marked group or family. 

 They are, by Cuvier, vmited with the Mackerels, or Scombrida; ; but their 

 separation now appears desirable, both on account of the present overgrown 

 extent of that enormous family, and the disturbance which their compre- 

 hension in it causes to a clear expression of its characters. Their own pecu- 

 liarities, moreover, admit of a sufficiently precise distinctive definition, and 

 are in accordance with certain obvious points of natural resemblance, of 

 geographic range, and habit. Their close alliance with the true Scom- 

 bridfc, and the gradual blending of their lines of demarcation at the points 

 of contact, are at once admitted. But this last is not allowed to be a 

 valid argument in favour of their union ; for it would equally apply to 

 sanction a proposal for mixing up into one mass, as each becomes more 

 studied and extended, almost every group, division, family, or genus, 

 which has been established by the naturalist in organized creation. 



It may be once for all affirmed, that good arguments against the 



VOL. I. 



