20-i FISHES. ACANTHOPT. Cepola. 



Gen. LIV. CEPOLA. Band-fish. — Dorsal, anal, and caudal 

 fins continuous ; upper jaw very short. 



114. C. rubescens. Red Band-fish. — Colour carmine, with 

 waved silvery bands on the sides. 



Serpens rubescens, Will. lc\v. 118 — C. rub. Linn. Syst. i. 445. MonL 

 Linn. Trans, vii. 291, t. xvii. Couch, ib. vol. xiv. 17 — South coast of 

 England. 



Length 10 to 15 inches. Body smooth, semipeUucid, tapering from the 

 head to the tail. Mouth large, sloping upwards ; jaws with one row of dis- 

 tant, subulate, curved teeth ; tongue short, smooth. Eyes large ; irides 

 silvery, mixed with crimson. Lateral line curved near the head in front of 

 the pectorals. D. 17, P. 16, rounded, V. 6, oval, the first ray short, spiny, 

 with a filament adjoining longer than the other raj^s, and detached from 

 them ; A. 61, C. 12, the middle ray longest. Two specimens of this fish oc- 

 curred to Montagu on the south coast of Devon, and two from Cornwall 

 have come into the possession of Mr Couch. According to Risso (Ich. 155.), 

 it is frequently caught at Nice in Mav, July, and December. — The C. Tcenia 

 is distinguished from this species by the double row of teeth in the lower 

 jaw, and the rough tongue, and the absence of the silvery bands. 



The Gymnetrus Hawkenii of Bloch (tab. 423.), and Shaw (General Zool. iv. 

 p. 198.) here merits some notice. " It appears (says the latter) from a print 

 published in the year 1798, that a specimen of this fish was thrown on the 

 coast of Cornwall in the month of February in the same year. Its length 

 was 8 feet 6 inches, its breadth in the widest part 10^ inches, and its thick- 

 ness only 2J inches. The tail in this specimen was wanting. The colours 

 the same as in the specimen figured by Bloch." In the specimens hitherto 

 obtained, the caudal fin has been wanting, though in the published figures 

 it has not been withheld. Indeed, the circumstance of the ventrals being fi- 

 lamentous with expanded extremities, would alone lead to the conclusion 

 that it was the Regalecus glesne of Ascanius, a species found in the northern 

 sea. 



Gen.lv. TRICHIURUS. Blade-fish.— Tail pointed; 

 no ventral, anal, or caudal fins. Scales indistinct. 



115. T. Leptu?-ns. — Colour silvery ; lower jaw advanced. 



Lepturus, Artedi, Ich. Desc. 111. — T. Lept. Linn. Syst. i. 429. Bloch, 

 Ich. t. 158. Hoij, Linn. Trans, xi. 210. 

 Two specimens of this fish have been found dead and cast ashore in the 

 Moray Frith, and examined by Mr James Hoy. The first on the 2d Nov. 

 1810, after a high wind from the north, was found at Port Gordon. " Its head 

 was much broken, probably by being dashed upon the rocks about low-water 

 mark; tlie bones of the upper part of the head stUl remained, and the sockets 

 of tlie eyes were distinguishable very near to each other : the extremity of 

 the upper jaw, or upper part of the mouth, was entire ; upon either side of 

 which was an operculum. The length of the head could not be measured 

 exactly, but was about 8 or 9 inches. The bod}% from the giUs to the point 

 of the tail, was 3 feet 2 inches long ; its greatest breadth 6J inches ; and its 

 greatest thickness only an inch. The vent was 2 inches from the gills : these 

 were much broken, and partly gone, so that the number of raj's could not be 

 ascertained. Both sides of the fish were wholly white, without a spot up- 

 on them ; the dorsal fin was the only part of a different colour, being a black- 

 ish-green : this fin ran all along the back from the gills to the tail, consist- 



