STO FILEFISH. 



and therefore it is with the greatest satisfaction that I am able 

 to record the capture of a third example, now in my possession, 

 at Port Loe, on the south coast of Cornwall; where it was 

 entrapped in a crab-pot in the first week of August, of the 

 present year, 1865. There can be no doubt that it had forced 

 an entrance into this fatal prison for the purpose of feeding 

 on the bait prepared to entice the Crabs and Lobsters; and the 

 fortunate possession of this example fresh from the ocean has 

 enabled us not only to produce a more correct resemblance 

 than has hitherto been within our reach, but also in my 

 description to furnish a larger number of particulars than as 

 I believe are elsewhere to be met with. 



This fish appears to have been well known to the ancient 

 Greeks and Romans, by whom it is represented as being 

 singularly and pertinaceously bold and pugnacious; and as snch 

 it is described by Oppian under the name of Mus, or the 

 Mouse: — 



"The Mus's hurtful race, of bulk not large, 

 And bold to an extreme, e'en man to charge 

 With hostile front. On his firm teeth he trusts, 

 And horny skin, to guard from hostile thrusts." 



The length of tins example to the middle border of the tail 

 was twelve inches, its greatest depth (both in a straight line) 

 six inches and a half, the greatest extent in that direction 

 being at the last ray of the first dorsal fin; the body and head 

 compressed, covered with plates of rather small size, which 

 have the appearance of scales, but do not overlap each other. 

 They are firmly attached to the body, and are scarcely per- 

 ceptibly rough. A lateral line scarcely perceptible proceeds 

 forward from the tail, but cannot be discerned for more than 

 a third of the length of the body. The head possesses a little 

 breadth before the eyes, and slopes dowmvard from the front 

 of the first dorsal fin, the outline slightly waved; and it even 

 rises a little from the first ray of this fin to the last. Eye of 

 moderate size, high on the side of the head, round with a 

 defined firm border; the pupil small. Nostrils slight, in a 

 small depression not far from the eye; and a small separate 

 channel forward from the anterior border of the eye. The 

 gape limited, the lips not covering the teeth, which project; a 

 pair in front of both jaws longer than the others, those behind 



