131 



OPHIDIUM. 



The body lengthened, compressed; vent far behind. Gill openings 

 wide. Dorsal and anal fins forming one with the tail: a biturcated 

 pair of tendrils hanging from the throat. vSupposing these tendrils to 

 be fins, Linnaeus placed these fishes in his jugular order. 



BEARDED OPHIDIUM. 



Opliidion rondeletius, Willoughby; p. 112, pi. 97. 



Ophidium barhatum, LinNjEUS. Cuviek. 



OpMdie harbu, Lacepede. Risso. 



Ophidium harhatum, Bloch; pi. 159. Yareell; British 



Fishes, vol. ii, p. 415. 

 '* " GnNTHEK; Catalogue British MiLseum, 



vol. iv, p. 377. 



This fish is inserted in the British Catalogue on the remote 

 and doubtful authority of former writers, none of whom profess 

 to have seen a native example, or point out a place or time in 

 which it has been obtained. Our figure, slightly tinted, is 

 derived from Rondeletius, who knew the species well, as being 

 frequently caught in the Mediterranean; and a description is 

 added, by which it may be recognized if ever it should chance 

 to fall into the hands of an observer. We also add a notice of 

 a kindred species which has only been recognized of late as 

 being distinct; but which is enumerated in the Catalogue of 

 the British Museum, where the example is preserved, as having 

 been found by Dr. Leach at Padstow, on the north coast of 

 Cornwall. Our knowledge of this last-mentioned fish is derived 

 from Dr. Gunther, whose account of it therefore, under the 

 name of Ophidium hroussonctii, we copy; and as these fishes 

 are described as in their form, and in the number of the rays 

 of their fins, closely resembling each other, the plate we give 

 of the one, coupled with a notice of their differences, will be 

 sufficient for every practical purpose. 



