CORYPH^NA EQUISETIS. 71 



length ; and, besides the smaller number of rays in the dorsal fin, is 

 at once distinguished from C. hippuriis, L., by its very small pectoral 

 fins, by the absence of diffused pale dusky spots, and presence of minute 

 black specks upon the flanks and sides. The fishermen believe it to 

 be the female either of that or of another species, and distinguish it 

 from others by its smaller size and less degree of yellowness. Although 

 this last may be a characteristic in the fresh-caught fish, it certainly is one 

 of an uncertain nature ; and the former idea is quite false. I have re- 

 peatedly dissected male as well as female individuals, which differed in no 

 point whatever of external characters. 



The name Dorado, or Dourado, probably was given in allusion to the ' 

 yellow wash with which the species of this genus are more or less gilded. 

 C. equisetis makes its first appearance here in June ; and is brought 

 in abundance, from time to time, into the market throughout the four 

 succeeding months : after October it entirely disappears. I have found 

 the female full of well-formed eggs, in two large prismatic masses, of a 

 bright orange-colour, in June and July ; and the male with the milt 

 enlarged and milky in October. The flesh is tolerably firm and juicy, 

 but has a kind of mawkish taste ; and, though considered the best of the 

 Dourados, is but rarely brought to English tables. The best mode of 

 preparation is to cut the fish acrpss into pieces, and then fry them. 



Shape, much compressed, oblong, narrowing chiefly by the ascent of the ventral 

 line from the origin of the anal fin backwards ; and forw^ards for a very short dis- 

 tance, from the commencement of the dorsal fin to the tip of the muzzle : the 

 middle space, between the edge of the opercle and beginning of the anal fin, 

 is an almost perfect oblong, with the dorsal and ventral lines nearly straight and 

 parallel, giving a peculiar regularity of form to the fish, characteristic of the species. 

 The line of the back is slightly convex from the origin to the end of the dorsal fin. 

 The greatest depth of the body, halfway between the nape and the beginning of 

 the anal fin, is from one fourth and a half to one fifl;h of the whole length ; and 

 the depth at the end of the dorsal and anal fins is about one fourth of this. 

 The thickness from the eye to the anal fin is about one third of the depth. 



Head small and short ; its depth at the origin of the dorsal fin scarcely less than 

 its length, which is one sixth of the whole length of the fish. The profile rises at 

 an angle of forty-five degrees from the tip of the muzzle for about half the length 

 from that point to the origin of the dorsal fin ; and then ascends more gradually. 

 This lower steeper half is blmit, and broad or rounded ; forming a sort of obtuse 

 or flattened triangle in front, the breadth of which at the base is half its height : 

 the upper half is keeled. The nostrils are placed halfway between the eye and 

 tip of the muzzle : the hinder nostril is an open, oval orifice ; the anterior an in- 

 conspicuous, vertical, short slit, not easily discovered, placed close before the other, 

 and only separated from it by a thin dissepiment. The eye is roundish-oval, 

 placed remarkably low down, just above the hinder comer of the mouth, having 

 a peculiar oblique or sinister expression. It is a little below the centre of the 

 head vertically, and somewhat before it longitudinally. Its anterior canthus is 

 produced into a sort of sinus; and its longitudinal diameter equals about one 

 fifth of the length of the head. 



G 2 



