ACANTHOPTERYGIL MUGILIDJE. 



TAB. XXIII. 



MUGIL AURATUS, Risso. 



Tainha de moda, ou Muja. 



Gilt-cheeked Grey Mullet. 

 Char. Gen. ; vide tab. xxii. 



Char. Spec. 



M. gracilis, oblongus, dorso recto : labro superiore laevi ; dentibus pectinato-setaceis conspicuis 

 distinctis ciliato : maxillaribus rectiuscidis, vix flexuosis, tenuibus ; extremitatibus (ore clauso) 

 fere expositis, .raro omnino celatis : suborbitariis integris, angustis, grosse crenatis : macula oper- 

 cular! utrinque aurea : naribus approximatis : pinna dorsali prima vix altiore quam longa. 



l"*. D. 4 ; 2^\ D. 1 + 8 ; A. 3 + 9 ; P. 1 -f 17 ; V. 1 + 5 ; C. ^ ^'- '^ + I- + VJ. - 



3 V. 4 + I. -f VI. 

 M. B. 6 ; Sq. lin. lat. 45 — 47 ; Vertae. 1 1 abd. + 13 ca,ud. = 24. 

 M. miratus, Risso, iii. 390. n°. 306. — Cuv. at Val. xi. 43. t. 308, lower figures. 

 M. cMo, Sjn. Mad. Fish. (1837), p. 184 : nee alionim. 



M. Maderensis, Suppl. Mad. Fish, in Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 82. — Trans. Zool. Soc. iii. p. 8. 

 Myxon, Rondel. 265.— Will. 276. 



Longit. 1 — 2 ped. =4^ — 6 X alt. = 8 — 9 X lat. =: 5 — 6 X. longit. cap. 



Tempus, hieme, vere. 



Locus, in littore : adultus rarior. 



This second and rarer Madeiran species of Grey Mullet is at once 

 distinguished from the ordinary rough-lipped sort, no less by its more 

 shapely slender form, and perfectly smooth or even upper lip, than by 

 the more conspicuous or permanent gold or brassy-yellow patch on its 

 opercles. Deceived by M, Cuvier's too broad or unqualified assertion, 

 that in M. auratus, Risso, " the maxillary is concealed under the sub- 

 orbitary, as in M. cephalus^'''' (R. Anim. ed. 2. ii. 232,) an assertion 

 repeated and expressed more strongly in the " Histoire des Poissons," 

 (vol. xi. pp. 43 and 46,) I have been twice prevented recognizing in 

 this Mediterranean species the true synonym of the Madeiran fish : in 

 which, although the maxillaries are capable of such concealment, and are 

 in fact, especially in adult full-sized fishes, such as that here figured, 

 sometimes quite concealed (" entierement cache," Cuv. and Val. xi. 

 p. 46) when the mouth is closed, yet just their lower ends or tips more 

 frequently, and especially in young or small examples, remain exposed ; 



VOL. I. 



