SERIOLA COSMOPOLITA. 79 



undulations in its course ; but at the sixth dorsal soft ray it descends to the 

 median plane, and then runs straight to the tail, where it is slightly elevated. 



Colour. This is a beautiful fish ; when first taken from the water, the superior 

 half of the whole animal, except the dorsal fin, is of palest green ; the inferior half 

 is silvery, shining, iridescent, or with purple reflections ; but soon it assumes a 

 brassy tint above, and a pale golden tint below. The first dorsal fin is transparent, 

 its anterior half shaded yellow, and clouded with minute dusky points ; the poste- 

 rior dorsal is transparent along its root, within the wall of scales above mentioned, 

 and beyond this the three anterior fourths are clouded by numerous black points, 

 but its whole margin has a yellowish tint ; the pectoral is perfectly transparent, 

 with a faint yellow tint, and a dusky spot, more or less distinct, on the inner face 

 at its root ; the ventral is white ; the spines preceding the anal fin, as well as the 

 membrane that unites them, are white ; the anal is transparent at its origin, with 

 the three or four anterior rays yellowish, with a few minute dusky spots ; the rest 

 is yellowish, most distinct near the margin ; the caudal is dusky-olive at its root, 

 and yellowish towards its extremity ; there is a large black spot at the base of the 

 upper fork of the caudal fin. 



Dimensions. The length between the opercle and tip of the tail is equal to 

 four heads; the greatest elevation, Avith the dorsal fin, is equal to two heads, and 

 to one head and two thirds without it ; total length, ten inches. 



Splanchnology. The peritoneum is of a silvery colour. The liver is but one mass, with a depression 

 in front and above for the cesophagus, and small, short lobuli on each side of it ; though there is no 

 distinct appearance of lobes below, yet the portion on the right side does not reach more than half 

 as far back as that on the left, and has an irregular margin, while the latter terminates in a point; 

 but the central portion is largest, and thickest ; it extends nearly to the vent, and then ends in a 

 small pointed lobule, that projects forward. The gall-bladder is rather large, sub-conical, elon- 

 gated, and situated almost entirely behind the right side of the liver. The stomach is of moderate 

 size, with tolerably thick walls, and numerous longitudinal folds of its mucous membrane, which 

 are not, however, permanent ; the pyloric portion springs from its posterior extremity, which turns 

 forward, and is nearly as long as the stomach itself, and has much firmer walls, with a well-marked 



