346 TBICUIURID^E. 



to a globiUar bony mass, and are probably diseased. None of tlie 

 vertebrae have the processes on the abdominal sm'face observed in 



3. TRICHIURUS. 



Trichim'us, L. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 429 ; Cm\ Regne Aniin. ; Cuv. df Val. 

 viii. p. 235. 



Body very elongate, band-like ; tail tapering to a point ; cleft of 

 the mouth wide. One single dorsal along the whole back ; caudal 

 none ; ventraLs reduced to a pair of scales, or entirely absent ; anal 

 spines numerous, but minute, or hidden beneath the skin. Scales 

 none. Strong teeth in the jaws ; teeth on the palatine bones, none 

 on the vomer. Seven branchiostegals. Air-bladder present. Py- 

 loric appendages in increased number. 



Seas between the tropics, extending on to the temperate regions. 



1. Trichiurus lepturus. 



The Hair-tail. 



Seba, 33. 1. 



Leptm-us, Artedi, Spec. p. Ill ; L. Mus. Ad. Fried, i. p. 76. pi. 26. f. 2. 



Trichiurus lepturus, L. Syst. Nat. i. p. 429 ; Hoi/, Linn. IVans. xi. 



p. 210; ?Bl. t. 158; Bl. Schn. p. 517; Cuv. 4" Val. viii. p. 237; 



Yarrell, British Fishes, i. p. 204 ; Storer, Bost. Jmirn. iv. p. 181 ; 



Casteln. Anini. 7iouv. on rares A?ner. Sud, p. 24 ; Dekay, New York 



Fauna, Fishes, p. 109. pi. 12. f. 35 ; Guichen. Poiss. in Itamon de la 



Sagra, Hist. Cuba, p. 105. 

 Gymnogaster, L. Syst. Nat. ed. 7. p. 53 ; Gronov. Mus. Ichth. i. p. 17 ; 



Brown, Jamaica, p. 444. tab. 45. f. 4. 

 Enchelyopus, Klein, Miss. iv. p. 52. pi. 12. f. 7. 

 Trichim'us argenteus, Shatv, Zool. iv. p. 90. pi. 12 ; Mitch. Trans. Lit. 



Sf Phil. Soc. New York, i. p. 364. 



D. 135. CiBC. pylor. 24. Yert. 39/120. 



The diameter of the eye is one-third of the length of the snout, 

 and equals the interorbital space, which is flat. The lateral line de- 

 scends behind the pectoral towards the belly in a strongly oblique 

 direction. No trace of ventral fins. Silvery. 



Atlantic. 



a. Fine specimen. South America. 



b-d. Half-grown. S. Domingo. Purchased of Mr. Cuming. 



e. Adult : bad state. Bahia. Purchased of M. Parzudaki. 



/. Adult : skin. Jamaica. From Dr. ParneU's Collection. 



g-h. Adult and half-grown : sldns. 



I, m. Half-grown. Old Collection. 



n. Adult male : skeleton. 



0. Intestines of specimen n. 



SJceleton. — Cuvier mentions, as a remarkable peculiarity of the 

 skull of this species, that the occipital and parietal bones are conso- 

 lidated into a large, thick mass as hard as stone. This is not the case 

 in the skeleton which serves for the present description ; but I imagine 

 that the skuU of Cuvier's specimen shows a similar disease of the 



