110 EIGHTH REPORT — 1838. 



rell and other Ichthyologists present as identical with the fish of the 

 Thames. 



Mr. Forbes stated, that he had lately taken off the Isle of Man two 



specimens of the lancelot. 



On the Stemoptixinea;, a Family of Osseous Fishes. Bij P. D. 

 Handyside, M.D., F.R.S.E., of Edinburgh. 



After giving a sketch of the history of this family, and especially- of 

 the genus Sternoptix, Dr. Handyside entered into a minute description 

 of a new species, which he proposed to call S. ccelehes, distinguishing it 

 from S. Hermmii and *S^. 0/fersii, to which it most nearly approached. 

 He considered these three fishes to form a distinct group or sub-family 

 of Salmonidae. 



On a Fish ivith Four Eyes. By W. H. Clarke and John Mortimer. 



In this communication the authors state, that at Fort Amsterdam 

 (Surinam) shoals of small fishes appear periodically, having four di- 

 stinct organs of vision. They observed that the water of the river, or 

 rather estuary, on which the fort is built, was blackened for miles along its 

 margin by innumerable multitudes of these fishes, which were followed 

 by scarlet flamingos. The description given of these fishes agrees in 

 several points with the chai'acter of the Anableps*, the only fish known 

 to naturalists which, by the double pupils of its eyes, may deserve the 

 title of tessarophthalmoid, proposed by the authors for the little fishes 

 they observed. It is, however, stated in the paper, that the eyes of 

 these fishes are really four, separated in tAvo pairs by a transverse horny 

 protuberance, and separately moveable. A drawing in pencil accom- 

 panied the communication. 



On a neio British Shell. By J. E. Gray, F.R.S., ^c. 



The shell in question had been discovered by Miss Isabella Mark in 

 the stomach of a haddock taken on the coast of Northumberland, and 

 it was believed had not hitherto been described. Mr. Gray proposed 

 to make of it a new genus, which he would call Neara, and which 

 would be peculiar for the slender produced form of the under edge, 

 and the large size of the lateral teeth. He stated, that he knew 

 two species belonging to the same genus, one from China figured by 

 Chemnitz, and called Anatina rostrata, by Lamark ; and the other from 

 the Adriatic, described and figured by Olivier, under the name of 

 Tellina cuspidata, and that he was not certain, without comparison, that 

 the British species was distinct from the latter. Mr. Gray also ex- 

 hibited a very splendid specimen of Balanus scoticus, attached to a 



* Cobitis anableps, Linn, ; Anableps tetrophthalmus, Bloch, 



