THE ARGENTINE. 453 



sea- weed. The receipt of an additional portion of MS. re- 

 cently confided to me by William Wolcott, Esq., furnishes 

 a notice written by his father, of a third instance of the oc- 

 currence of the Argentine, which was found stranded on 

 tlie shore near Exmouth. Pennant's description agrees in 

 many respects with my fish ; the figure contained in Mr 

 YarrelFs work, which was taken from Pennant's, differs very 

 materially about the head and the tail, although it resembles 

 it in the form of the body. If Pennant'sj^^t^/ebe an exact 

 representation, the fish it was taken from was certainly a 

 different species from the one under description. Pennant de- 

 scribes his as follows, viz. ' Lengtli two inches and a quar- 

 ter ; the eyes large ; irides silvery ; the lower jaw sloped 

 much ; the teeth small ; body compressed and of an equal 

 depth, almost to the anal fin ; tail forked ; back was of a 

 dusky green ; the sides and covers of the gills as if plaited 

 with silver ; the lateral line was in the middle and quite 

 straight ; on each side of the belly was a row of circular 

 punctures, above them another which ceased near the vent.** 

 " My specimen would correspond with the above, except 

 the following ; viz. Length one inch and fifteen-sixteenths ; 

 the back of a dense blue-black, presenting in certain lights 

 a brownish tinge ; lateral line central and straight, but in- 

 clining upwards, at about its anterior sixth towards the 

 upper angle of the operculum. 



" The number and arrangement of the gnttcB, in the 

 specimen under consideration, are as follows ; viz. On each 

 side, upper series between os hydides and origin of pectoral 

 fin, five; upper abdominal series between base of pectoral 

 and a spot perpendicularly over the ventral, nine ; lower 

 abdominal series, from a spot perpendicularly beneath the 

 posterior margin of orbit to base of ventral, twelve ; be- 

 tween base of ventral and commencement of anal, six ; the 

 two anterior directed downwards and backwards ; ihefour 

 posterior forming an arch from a little above the second 



