Ophidium fishes. MALACOPT. 201 



iiifly a rare species, it has since been found by Mr Lewis Morris, the Rev. 

 H? Davis, and Mr Anstice. 



Gen. LII. OPHIDIUM. Anal, dorsal, and caudal fins 



united ; tail pointed. 



112. O. imberhe. — Lower jaw beardless. 



Linn. Syst. i. 431. Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 398. Mmt. Wern. Mem. i. 95. 

 t. iv. f. 2 — Coast of Devon. 

 Length 3 inches. Purplish brown ; bluish spots along the base of the anal 

 fin. Head obtuse, body compressed towards the tail. Mouth ascending; 

 lips marginated. Eyes large ; irides dark, with a silvery circle round the 

 pupil. Vent near the middle. D. 77, P- H, A. 44, C. 18. Pectorals round- 

 ed ; the dorsal fin commencing immediately above them — This species, as a 

 British production, was first communicated to Pennant from Weymouth by 

 the Duchess Dowager of Portland. Montagu has since found it on the south 

 coast of Devon. 



The O. barbalum, a species readily distinguished from the preceding by the 

 lower jaw having two bifid cirri, has been noticed by Berkenhout in his Sy- 

 nopsis, p. 66. as a British production, without any intimation respecting the 

 circumstances of its capture. He, however, takes no notice of the O. imber- 

 be, which had previously appeared in the British Zoology. 



Gen. LIII. AMMODYTES. L a unce.— Dorsal, anal, and 

 caudal fins disjoined. Neither coeca nor air-bag. Tail 

 forked. 



1 13. A. Tobianus. Common Launce. — Lower jaw longest ; 

 lips protrusile forwards and downwards. 



Sandils, Merr. Pin. 187 — Ammodites, Sibb. Scot. 24. Will. Ich. 113 



Amm. Tob. i. 430. Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 156 — Common on sandy 

 shores. 

 Length 3 to 5 inches. Above bluish-green, with a darker band on each 

 side ; sides and belly silvery. Head small, pointed. Irides silvery. Late- 

 ral line straight. D. 54, P. 15, A. 28, C 16 — This species is the favourite 



food of salmon and many other kinds of fish M. Lesauvage, in the Bulletin 



des Sciences, Sept. 1824, has instituted another species of this genus which 

 he terms A. lanceolatus, and which has probably in this country been con- 

 founded with the preceding. He assigns to it the following character : " B. 

 7, D. 58, P. 13, A. 30, C. 16. Ijon- !) pouces, machoire extensible se redres- 

 sant verticalement, en entrainant dans sa direction I'extremite mobile de la 

 machoire non extensible." 



