RED RANDFISH. 195 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. RIBAND-SHArED. 





THE RED BANDFISH, OR RED SNAKEFISH. 



Cepola ruhescens, Linn«us. 



,, CuviER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 221. 



,, Montagu, Linn. Trans, vol.vii. p. 291, tab. 17. 



,, Red Bandfish, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 285. 



Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 105. 

 ,, Bandfish, Flem. Brit. An. p. 204, sp. 114. 



,, Red Sjiakejish, Couch, Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 76, and MS. 



Generic Characters. — Head short, rounded ; body elongated, compressed, 

 lanceolate ; dorsal and anal fins extending very nearly the whole length of 

 the body ; teeth prominent, curved, and sharp ; branchiostegous rays 4. 



. Colonel Montagu first described the Red Bandfish 

 as a British species in 1803. Two specimens were taken 

 in Salcombe bay, on the south coast of Devonshire, — the 

 first in February, the second in March ; and an account, 

 with a description and figure, appeared in the Transac- 

 tions of the Linnean Society, vol. vii. In 1822, Mr. 

 Couch included this species in his paper on the Fishes 

 of Cornwall, in the fourteenth volume of the Transactions 

 of the same Society ; and referring to his MS., I find the 

 following additional information : — " Until within a few 



o 2 



