Storcr's Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 189 



Exocetus Noveboracensis, New York Fh Ing B h, Mitchill, Amer , n. p. 323. 



I port, p. 230, pi. 3G, fig. H4. 



4. Exocetus exilicns, Bloch. 



Bright silvery, with a blue or dusky tinge on the upper part ; fins dusky. Pectorals lan- 

 ceolate, and scarcely extend to caudal ; anal and dorsal straight, low. and about equal ; cau- 

 dal deeply forked, lower lobe nearly twice the length of the upper ; ventrals large, situated 

 a little beyond the middle of the abdomen. In young specimens, there are brown bands on 

 the pectorals and ventrals. 



D. 12. P. 18. V. 16. A. 10. C. 20. Length, 12 to 10 inches. 



Gulf of Mexico, Lesueur. 



Exocetus exiliens, Bloch, 397. 



" Lin., Syst. Nat., p 1400. 



Mediterranean Flying-fish, Shaw's Gen. Zool., v. p. 142. pi. HG. 



" Rich.. Fauna Boreal. Americ, m. p, 129 

 Exocetus fascialus, Lesueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc., n. p. 9; youn" (?). 



Cuvier, in his " Regne Animal," says, he thinks the Exocetus fasciatus of Lesueur is 

 the young of Blocks E. exiliens. Dekay is of the same opinion ; therefore I have thus 

 arranged them. 



5. Exocetus mesogaster, Bloch. 



Silvery blue, with the ventral fins situated on the middle of the abdomen ; they are mod- 

 erately large, and rounded. 

 D. (?). P. (?). V. (.'). A.(>). -C. (.'). Length, 4 inches. 

 Caribbean Sea, Plumier. 



Exocetus mesogaster, Bloch, 399 ? 



American Flying-fish, Shaw's Gen. Zool., v. p. 146, pi. 110. 



MiddUng Flying -fish, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., i. p. 11- 



Although Cuvier observes, that "it is not easy to distinguish the exiliens and meso- 

 gaster in the relations and the figures given by travellers," and Richardson (Fauna Boreal. 

 Americ, p. 131) observes that Dr. MitehilPs notice of the E. mesogaster " is too slight to 

 prove that he has applied the name rightly," I have introduced this species here, because it 

 was noticed by Plumier in the Caribbean Sea, and by Mitchill's using, in his description of this 

 species, the very words of Shaw when describing this species (Gen. Zool., v. p. 146), it is 

 evident they answer perfectly to the description of his fish. Richardson is in error when he 

 says, " Dr. Mitchill mentions the mesogaster as an inhabitant of the sea of New York " ; 

 for although this might be inferred from the fact of its being contained in his "Memoir," 

 yet Mitchill says, " The specimen I examined was brought from the ocean, somewhere to the 

 south.'' 



GENUS V. HEMIRAMPHUS, Cuv. 

 The upper jaw short, lower jaw elongated and pointed ; both furnished, on 





