SXAKE riPK-FISlI. 339 



nal structure. All tlic spcoinicus examined having these ex- 

 ternal hemispheric cells proved to be males, the testes in 

 the abdomen obvious ; those without external depressions 

 proved to be all females, internally provided with two lobes 

 of enlarged ova. The males of this species when taken by 

 me as late in the season as August, had one ovum of the 

 size and colour of a mustard-seed lodged in each cup-shaped 

 cell. These specimens were caught with a keer-drag net 

 between Brownsey Island and South Haven, at the mouth of 

 Poole Harbour. Many specimens of S. acus and ti/phle 

 were obtained at the same time and place. 



The length of the head in this species is, compared to the 

 whole length of the fish, as one to eleven ; the form of the 

 body slightly octangular, but more slender and rounded than 

 in that last described ; the body uniform in size as far as the 

 vent, then tapering gradually to the tail, which has a slightly 

 flattened end ; the divisions in the series of transverse plates, 

 and the angles, of the body, almost obsolete ; the dorsal fin, 

 as before mentioned, entirely anterior to the middle of the 

 fish ; the number of rays thirty-eight : the vent in a line with 

 the last fourth portion of the dorsal fin. 



The colour of the body is a uniform olive green ; the 

 irides red, the pupils black. The specimens I possess vary in 

 lenfftli from eiffht inches to fourteen inches. 



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