POGONIAS FASCIATUS. 119 



ventral rays are white, but the membrane is more or less clouded, both above and 

 below, with bluish-black ; the anal spines are dirty white ; the soft portion is white 

 at its root, and more or less bluish-black in other parts. 



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

 heads and a half; the elevation without the dorsal fin, to one head and a half; 

 total length, two feet and a half. 



Splanchnology. The liver is large ; the left lobe is of a sub-triquetral form, and extends nearly as far 

 back as the stomach ; the central or transverse portion is tolerably thick in its middle, and is well 

 bounded by a fissure between both right and left lobes ; the right lobe is as large in front as the 

 left, but behind the gall-bladder it becomes smaller, three-sided, and extends to near the vent. The 

 gall-bladder is large, olive-shaped, and extends to about the posterior half of the right lobe. The 

 stomach is small, and does not reach half the length of the abdomen ; its walls are thick ; its py- 

 loric branch goes off near the cardia, and has a well-marked pyloric contraction ; there are six cce- 

 cal appendages almost as long as the stomach. The spleen is large, sub-triquetral, rather flat, and 

 connected with the stomach, but not extending behind it. The air-bladder has its lateral horns less 

 developed than in the last species, and there is no fibrous chord pervious for a short distance 

 running backwards from the posterior channel between the body and lateral horns ; but there are 

 several small pits in its posterior part. 



Habits. The Young Drum, though subsisting on the same animals as the 

 Pogonias cromis, differs from it considerably in its habits, as it is taken with the 

 hook at nearly all seasons of the year ; yet the largest are captured in November 

 and December. 



Geographical Distribution. The Pogotiias fasciahis ranges along the Atlan- 

 tic coast from Rhode Island to Cape Florida. 



General Remarks. Lacepede published the first account of this fish, but the 

 description was furnished by Bosc, who observed it in our State, where he was for 

 some time a resident, and who did much to elucidate its zoology. 



