218 MALACOP. SUB-BRACIT. COD FAMILY. 



iience to be easily felt by the finocr. The presence 

 of these tubercles was thought by Dr. Fleining to 

 distin<:,mish R. trifarcatus from the Lest Hake of 

 Pennant or the " Barhis minor Cornuhienais" 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 di.stiiictioii cannot be 

 maintained, as has been sufficiently shown both by 

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

 the first dorsal appears to be similar to that of the 

 gei-us 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 terminates 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 middle 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 

 frr)m this same plate accom};any Dr. rarnell's Essay 

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

 wood-cut is engraved; if the rej)rettentation 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 Bcrwicksliirc Naturalists' Club for 

 :832,— quoted also by Mr. YarrcU. 



