32-i Dr Handyside oti the History of the Sternoptixinw, 



he considered the theory as his own, and makes no reference to any pre- 

 vious communication from any one upon the subject, nor of having ever 

 heard of Mr Cavendish drawing the same conclusion. 



The improbability must also be admitted to be extreme, of Sir Charles 

 Blagden ever having heard of Mr Cavendish's theory prior to the date of 

 Mr Watt's letter, and not mentioning that circumstance in the insertion 

 which he made in Mr Cavendish's paper. 



It deserves to be farther mentioned, that Mr Watt left the correction 

 of the press, and everything relating to the publishing of his paper, 

 to Sir Charles Blagden. A letter remains from him to that effect writ- 

 ten to Sir Charles Blagden, and Mr Watt never saw the paper until it 

 was printed.* 



• The notes of Mr James Watt formed part of the manuscript transmitted to 

 me by Lord Brougham, and it is at the express desire of our illustrious fellow- 

 member, that I have printed them as a useful commentary upon his essay. 

 [Note'bv M. Arago.] 



History of the Sternoptixinse, «/«/«% of the Osseous Fishes, 

 and their anatomical peculiarities ; with a description of 

 the Sternoptix Celebes, a species not hitherto noticed. By 

 P. D. Handyside, M.D., F.R.S.E,, Lecturer on Anatomy. 

 Illustrated by two Engravings. Communicated by the 

 Author. 



Sect. I. Historical Remarks. 



Professor Hermann of Strasburg, about the year 1774 ap- 

 plied the name of Sternoptix (from the apparently plicated ar- 

 rangements of the external covering in the sternal region) to 

 a very rare osseous fish from around the West India islands, 

 small in size, truncated in front, narrow and tapering behind, 

 high-backed, very compressed, and presenting a triangular 

 distinctly pellucid compartment of the caudal region just be- 

 hind the anus.* From the last-mentioned character, as well 

 as to distinguish it from another genus, from the Azores, since 

 described by M. Olfers, under the name oi Sternoptix Olfersii,\ 



" See Der Naturforscher, Halle, Fasc. xvi. pi. 8. torn. i. figs 1, 2, copied by 

 Walbaum of Lubeck in his edition of Artedi's Ichthyologia (entitled Artedius 

 renovatus) torn. iii. pi. 1. fig. 2., and by Cuvier in his Regne Animal, edit. 1829, 

 pi. xiii. fig. !•) and by Shaw in his Zoology, vol. iv. p. 112. 



+ See Cuvier's Regne Animal, pi. xiii. fig. 2. 



