442 



MUGILID^. 



is on the middle of the depth of the body ; its length equals the di- 

 stance of its base from the eye ; it has a pointed scale in its axil, but 

 it is not very long. The least depth of the tail is less than one-haK 

 the length of the head. 



Silvery, shining golden, with darker stripes along the series of the 

 scales ; a blackish spot superiorly at the base of the pectoral. 



35. Mugil auratus. 



Daurin (Nice) ; Lotregano (Venice). 



Mugil auratus, Risso, Jtchth. Nice, p. 344, and Uur. Merid. iii. p. 390 ; 



Cuv. Itigne Anim. ; Bmiap. Faun. Ital. Peso. ; Cuv. Sf Val. xi. p. 43. 



pi. 308 ; Lotve, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1843, p. 86 ; Nordm. in Demid. Voy. 



Rms. Merid. iii. p. 395 ; Guichen. Explor. Alger. Poiss. p. 67 ; Cuv. 



JR^gne Anim. III. Poiss. pi. 76. fig. 1 ; Lotce, Fish. 3Iud. p. 16i3. 



chelo, Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 184; (not and.). 



niadeirensis, Loive, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 82, & 1843, p. 86, 



and Trans. Zool. Soc. iii. p. 8. 



D. 4 I 9. A. J. L. lat. 42-45. L. tranav. 14. Caec. pylor. 8. 

 Vert. 11/13. 

 The height of the body is contained five times and one-fourth to 

 five times and three-fourths in the total length, the length of the 

 head five times. The snout is broad and 

 depressed ; the interorbital space slightly 

 convex, its width being two-fifths of the 

 length of the head. The upper lip does 

 not show anything particular, and is not 

 covered by the nasal bones. The angle 

 made by the two mandibularies is rather 

 obtuse, and the cleft of the mouth is more 

 than twice as broad as it is deep ; the prae- 

 orbital has a longitudinal ridge covered 

 with skin, and only the o'ltermost ex- 

 tremity of the maxillary bone projects be- 

 yond its margin. Eyes with a rudiment- 

 ary adipose membrane : nostrils close together ; they are less di- 

 stant from each other than the posterior is from the eye. A short 

 lanceolate portion of the chin is not covered by the mandibularies. 

 There are twenty-five scales between the snout and the spinous dorsal. 

 The two anterior dorsal spines are nearly one-half of the length of 

 the head. No pointed scale in the axil of the pectoral. The 

 tliirtcenth, the foiu-teenth, and the twenty-sixth scales of the lateral 

 line correspond to the extremity of the pectoral and to the origin of 

 the two dorsal fins. The root of the pectoral is above the middle of 

 the body ; the ventral is inserted midway between the pectoral and 

 spinous dorsal. Dark stripes along the series of scales. 

 Mediterranean. Canary Islands. British coast. 



a. Twelve inches long. Lanzarote. Presented by the Rev. R. T. 



Lowe. 

 ()-c. Fine specimens. England. 



auratus. 



