216 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. COD FAMILY. 



this appears to be the coast of Cornwall, where 

 Mr. Couch finds it to be not uncommon in the 

 winter. It is known to the fishermen in that quar- 

 ter by the name of Hakes Dame. It was first dis- 

 covered in that locality by Mr. Jago, a clergyman 

 of the Church of England settled in Cornwall, and 

 one of Ray's correspondents, and inserted in his 

 synopsis, under the descriptive name of " Barbus 

 major Cornubiensis cirris bifurcatis." Pennant ob- 

 tained it from the coast of Flintshire. Mr. T. C. 

 Heysham has seen examples caught near Bo'ness, 

 and in the Solv^^ay Firth; a notice is inserted in the 

 Mem. of Wern. Nat. Hist. Society* of its occurrence 

 at St. Andrews, and Mr. Thompson finds it in Ire- 

 land. In these circumstances we are but little 

 acquainted with the natural history of this curious 

 fish. Mr. Couch says that it seems to come into 

 the shallow water to spawn in the winter ; that it 

 takes a bait, and is used as food, but is not much 

 esteemed. Pennant gives the length as eleven inches 

 and a half; Borlase, eighteen inches and a half; 

 and Mr. Couch says it grows to the length of two 

 feet. 



Gen. LXXX. Raniceps. — The generic name 

 refers to the broad, depressed, frog-like head, which 

 being attached to a rapidly tapering and compressed 

 body, gives the general form the appearance of that 

 of a tadpole. There are two dorsals, but the first 

 is small and inconspicuous, composed of only a few 

 rays ; the second dorsal and anal are long, and ter- 

 * Vol. vi. p. 5G9. 



