146 |. NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
THE WHITE MULLET. 
MouciL aueuna. 
Mugil albula. Lin. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12ma, p. 520, 
M. id., New-York Mullet. Mrrcu. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 447. 
Le Muge blanquette, M. id. Cuv. et Vau. Hist. des Poiss. Vol. 11, p. 94. 
Characteristics. General hue whitish. Caudal with a blackish border. Lips finely pecti- 
nated. Length nine inches. 
Description. Body almost cylindrical, tapering. Head moderate. Eyes covered with a 
thick membranous skin. Scales on the head and body large and rounded. Forty-two were 
counted ina line from the branchial aperture to the base of the caudal fin. A series of small 
scales on the snout, between the anterior nostrils. Lateral line indistinct or wanting. Scaly 
plates at the base of the pectorals and ventrals ; small scales on the pectoral, ventral and caudal 
fins, those on the latter fin ascending high up. Mouth protractile. Lips thin, finely pectinated, 
with membranous slips. Jaws nearly even; the lower with a distinct prominence in the 
centre, within, and received into a corresponding depression in the upper jaw. ‘Tongue 
ridged along the medial line, smooth, covered with large papille, as are the pharyngeals, 
but with no vestige of teeth. 
The first dorsal fin placed just over the point reached by the tips of the ventrals ; the second 
ray slightly longest. Second dorsal fin composed of one short feebly spinous, and eight arti- 
ticulated rays; the first two longest; the fifth, sixth and seventh short; the last equaling the 
fourth in length. Pectorals small and pointed, composed of one simple and fourteen branched 
rays. Ventrals short and broad ; the first ray acutely spinous, the others very ramose. Anal 
fin opposite the second dorsal, which it resembles in shape and size, is composed of one 
short sharp spine and seven branched rays. Caudal fin deeply emarginate ; its extremities 
ragged, and covered high up with small oblong scales. 
Color. A uniform white, rather darker along the sides of the back, with a few dark-colored 
longitudinal stripes, which occur in many species. 
Length, 9°0. Of the head, 1°8. Depth at the dorsal fin, 2°0. 
hintrays, D: 421 18): 1Pea5):2 Vila: eA lee C nal os 
Whether this be the M. albula of Linneus, may well be doubted. There are also discre- 
pancies in the radial formula as given by Mitchill, Cuvier and myself, which I cannot pretend 
to reconcile. In all the characters given by Mitchill and myself, except in the radial formula, 
our specimens agree. In one particular, the pectinated lips, which are distinctly mentioned 
by Mitchill, do not appear to have been noticed by Cuvier and Valenciennes. This character 
approximates it to the M. labes of the Mediterranean; but in our species, the lips are not 
thick. It is also distantly allied to the M. cirrostomus of Forster, from the Pacific. 
The figure of this species, as given by Catesby, (if indeed it be this species,) may well be 
