g^ TEMNODON SALTATOR. 



at its root, deeply forked, has twenty rays, and is covered with minute scales for 

 three fourths of its length. 



The scales are small, sub-pentagonal, with two sides directed forwards; the 

 lateral line begins above the opercle, and is at first arched upwards, but it soon 

 takes a straight course, and thus continues to the tail. 



Colour. When first taken from the water, the Skipjack is of a brilliant silver- 

 colour ; but it soon becomes shaded with pale green along the back, which finally 

 darkens into a greenish-blue, especially in the old fish, and hence it is called Blue- 

 fish in some parts of the country, and Green-fish in others. The connecting mem- 

 brane of the dorsal spines is perfectly transparent ; that of the soft dorsal is semi- 

 transparent, and slightly tinted with yellowish-green below ; the pectoral fin is 

 yellowish, transparent in its middle, with a few minute dusky spots at its tip, and 

 has a bluish-black blotch at its base, which is most distinct on its inner face ; the 

 anal is yellowish, with a slight tint of olive, and a few minute dusky freckles ; the 

 caudal is yellowish-olive, with dusky points to near its tip, which is yellowish. 



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

 heads and one eighth ; the greatest elevation is about seven eighths of a head ; 

 total length, three feet. 



Splanchnology. The liver is large and trilobate, as the central portion is prolonged backwards, 

 nearly as far as the right lobe, and is its thickest part ; the right and left lobes are both long and 

 slender, the former shorter and narrower. The ccecal appendages are delicate, and extremely 

 numerous. The gall-bladder is an elongated tube, nearly of the same size throughout, with several 

 convolutions, and closed at its posterior extremity, which is near the vent. The stomach is large, 

 sub-cylindrical, with very thick walls, and extends three fourths the length of the abdomen ; its py- 

 loric branch is small, very short, goes off from the stomach at its anterior fifth, and has a well- 

 marked pyloric contraction. The spleen is dark purple, slender, and vei-y long, as it extends from 

 the right lobe of the liver to near the vent. The ovaries are small, oblong, and unite in substance 

 far back. The kidney is large near the oesophagus, narrow and thick in the middle, and pointed 

 behind ; there is no urinary bladder. The air-bladder is simple, and has exceedingly thin walls. 



