CENTROPRISTES ATRARIUS. 45 



Dimensions. The length from the opercle to the tip of the tail is equal to three 

 heads ; the elevation, without the dorsal fin, to one head and one twentieth ; total 



length, twenty inches. 



1 



Splanchnology. The liver is large, and of rather a pale colour ; the transverse portion is thick, and 

 joined without a fissure to the left lobe, which is tolerably thick and subtriquetral in front, slender 

 and pointed at its termination, which is rather beyond the anterior third of the abdomen ; the right 

 lobe is about half as long, and both project pointedly into the hypochondriac regions at their supe- 

 rior part. The gall-bladder is large, and situated behind the right lobe, even as far back as the 

 posterior extremity of the left. The stomach is large, and ends in a point at the posterior fourth of 

 the abdomen ; the pyloric branch is short, goes off at an acute angle from its posterior third, and is 

 nearly as broad as the stomach itself ; it has thick walls, and is greatly contracted at the pylorus. 

 The small intestine runs to the vent ; it is then reflected to the pylorus, whence it returns to end in 

 the rectum. There are seven coecal appendages. The spleen is small, dark purple, sub-oval, 

 flattened, with acute margins, and is concealed by the last convolution of the small intestine. The 

 air-bladder is large, oblong, with two or three small pouches or sacks on each side of its anterior 

 part ; the most anterior of these are the largest. The testicles are oblong, pointed before, and unite 

 far back. The kidneys are narrow ; and the ureters are slighdy developed behind, and make a 

 small urinary bladder. 



Habits. The Black-fish is very voracious; it feeds on any animal substance 

 whatever, whether dead or alive, and is consequently easily taken with the hook. 

 In its stomach I have often found small fish of various genera, and parts of such 

 as were too large to be swallowed whole, as well as small crabs, shrimps, &c. It 

 abounds in shallow, as well as in deep waters, even of twenty-five fathoms or more, 

 where the largest are taken ; but fish of a smaller size are caught in the mouth of 

 our river, or even from the wharves of our city. It is so abundant, that it may be 

 found every day in our market, and is always sold alive; and yet, notwithstanding 

 the many thus destroyed, it is so prolific that its numbers appear undiminished. 



Geographical Distribution. The Centropristes atrarius inhabits the Atlantic 

 coast of the United States, from Cape Florida to Cape Fear in North Carolina, 

 which must for the present be considered as its northernmost limit. 



