UMBRINA ALBURNUS. 139 



direction ; they are ciliated at their posterior margin, and become rough when 

 dry. The lateral line is concurrent with the outline of the back, and is placed 

 at first about the upper third of the body, but towards the tail it descends to 

 the middle ; its scale is oblong, larger and ciliated behind, with its duct nearly 

 in the middle, and bifurcating posteriorly. 



Colour. The colour is silvery, a little clouded on the back, and marked with 

 several oblique, irregular, dusky bars, running from the back to below the lateral 

 line, when they disappear and leave the belly silvery-white ; sometimes these 

 bars are interrupted, and they then appear as irregular blotches ; the fins are 

 all more or less translucent, and without spots. 



Dimensions. The length from the opercle to the extremity of the tail is rather 

 more than three heads ; the elevation of the body is more than three fourths 

 of the head. Whitings are sometimes caught sixteen inches long. 



Splanchnology. The stomach is large, and extends to within an inch of the vent ; it is sub-conical 

 in form, pointed behind, with thick walls, and numerous folds on its inner face, which are, how- 

 ever, removed by distention. The pyloric portion begins near its anterior fourth, is small and 

 very short, with the pyloric contraction well marked externally. The duodenum is at first larger 

 than the pyloric portion of the stomach, though with walls much thinner. There are seven 

 ccecal appendages, all about an inch long, and all nearly of the same size. The small intestine 

 runs to the posterior extremity of the stomach, is then reflected to the pylorus, whence it again 

 turns back to end in the rectum, which has thinner walls, though it is more capacious and with 

 an evident rectal valve. The liver is large, both lobes nearly of the same size in front, where 

 both project into the hypochondriac regions, but the left is longer, reaching to the extremity of the 

 stomach ; the central or transverse portion is also very thick, and is continuous with the left lobe 

 without a fissure. The gall-bladder is long, cylindrical, with thin walls, and extends more than 

 half its length behind the right lobe of the liver, to which it is attached by peritoneal folds. The 

 spleen is long, narrow, sub-triangular. The ovaries are bilobed, or double in front, but unite into 

 one far back, and open above and behind the rectum in a common canal. The ureters terminate 

 in a small, short bladder, which is placed far back, and a little to the right side. There is no air- 

 bladder. 



