158 CATAr.oauE of fish. 



markings which oroasionally occur. The intestines are enclosed in a 

 peritoneal sac having a silvery lustre with small black rings, which 

 iu the males are visible through the ventral integuments. P. 18 ; 

 D. 140 ; A. 170 rays, according to Eisso. 



Total length 7-18 in. 



To the point of the gill-plate . . . . . 1 02 „ 



To the anus 0-87 „ 



To the dorsal 1-69 „ 



Length of the pectorals . . . . . . 4-92 „ 



10. FlERASFEB DENTATUS, CuvieV. 



Fierasfer dentatus, Cuv. Begn. An. ii. 



Echiodon Drumraondi, Thomps. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 55 ; Id. 



Zool. Trans, ii. 207, pi. 38; Yarr. Br. Fish. ii. 417, with two 



figures, or Id. Suppl. 41. 



Diagn. Four card-like teeth in tlie upper jaw, also four in the man- 

 dible which stand in pairs as canine teeth with an interval between. 



Descr. This species varies in the upper jaw and mandible, having 

 sometimes only one lateral snag-tooth, or two below and one above, 

 or four above and two below, as in Yarrell's vignette. When the 

 pairs are perfect in both jaws the interior front ones are so closely 

 approximated that one may without a lens easily overlook their 

 separation, and reckon them only as one. The rest of the teeth are 

 blunt with sprinklings of glassy lustre. In this species the anus is 

 situated somewhat further back under the middles of the pectoral 

 fins, and the dorsal fin commences rather nearer to the head. Co- 

 lour apparently reddish, the sides dotted and the distal parts of the 

 fins and tail blackish. Iris, gill plates and belly having a silvery 

 lustre. There are no black rings on the silvery peritonaeum. The 

 Irish specimen was eleven inches long. I consider it to have 

 strayed thither from the Mediterranean, where it is a common fish. 

 This fish has been set up erroneously as the type of a new genus, 

 which would not have been the case had the preceding species 

 been properly known. Mr. Thompson holds moreover that his fish 

 is distinct from dentatus, which is not the case. I saw many exam- 

 ples in the Paris Museum of variations in the numbers of the teeth, 



2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 



such as ; . — ; ; ; arising from one or more of 



1_1 2-2 2-2 1-J 

 the teeth having been broken off. In this genus all the species ex- 

 hibit variety in their dentition, and the naturalist who founds genera 

 upon accidents might add many to the number. D. 180; A. 180 ; 

 C. 12 ; P. 16 rays, according to Thompson. 



11. Fierasfer Homei, Eaiip. 



Oxybeles Homei, Richardson, Erch. d Terr. 73, pi. xliv., fig. 7 to 



18. Two full figures. 

 Oxybeles Brandesi, Bleelfer, N. Tijd. N. Lid. p. 43, 1850-51. 



