172 HOMOPRION XANTHURUS. 



Colour. The head and the body above the lateral line are of a pale golden- 

 brown ; the cheeks, opercle, and body below the lateral line are silvery ; the dorsal 

 spines are white where they are covered with skin ; the membrane uniting them is 

 transparent, but has numerous dusky points in different places ; the second dorsal 

 is semi-transparent; the ventral is pale yellow in front, with its posterior half 

 white ; the pectoral is transparent ; the anal spines are white ; the anterior half 

 of the fin is yellow, with a few black dots ; its posterior is transparent and white ; 

 the caudal is yellow. 



Dimensions. The entire length, from the opercle to the tip of the caudal fin, 

 is equal to three heads and one eighth, and the greatest elevation without the 

 dorsal to one head; total length, ten inches. 



Splanchnology. The peritoneum is of a silvery colour. The liver is large, and of a pale colour ; it 

 has two lobes, and a thin, flattened, narrow, transverse portion ; the right and left lobes are nearly 

 of the same size ; the latter is rather the longer ; both are flattened, narrow, with a sharp margin 

 behind, and both project into the hypochondria along the horns of the air-bladder. The gall-blad- 

 der is small, sub-oval, and is in part lodged in a depression near the posterior part of the right lobe, 

 though most of it is found behind the lobe. The stomach is very large, oblong, and extends to the 

 posterior fourth of the abdominal cavity ; its walls are tolerably thick, but not firm. The pyloric 

 branch goes off very near the diaphragm, and is not half an inch long ; the contraction at the 

 pylorus is well marked externally. The small intestine is capacious, and runs backwards half the 

 length of the abdomen, and is then reflected forwards nearly to the middle of the stomach, whence 

 it turns backwards to end in the rectum, which is small. There are eight delicate, slender ccEcal 

 appendages, pointed at their tips, and of unequal length, varying from three lines to half an inch. 

 The spleen is long and very slender. The air-bladder is large, and extends the entire length of the 

 abdomen ; it is pointed behind, and is so contracted in front as to appear almost double ; from the 

 anterior part goes off" on each side a short, conical, capacious horn, towards the occipital bone ; 

 the walls are very thick, and the inner face has a satin-like whiteness, without any appearance of 

 glandular masses. The kidney is long and narrow ; there is no urinary bladder. 



Habits. The habits of the Yellow-tail are very similar to those of the 

 Leiostomus ohliquus ; it is found in the same waters, and is taken with the 

 same bait. 



