26' 



.1 description of two supposed undescribed species of 

 Fishes. By W. D. Webster, Esq. Surgeon of H. M. 

 Ship Chanticleer, Corresponding Member of the South 

 African Institution. 



[Read at the South African Institution.'] 

 My dear sir, — Should you think the accompanying short de- 

 iptions of two fishes, which I am inclined to consider as 

 undescribed species, will be of interest to the Members of 

 the South African Institution, you are at liberty to make 

 what use of them you please. The sucker fish was found ad- 

 hering to a line which had been let down into the sea, in the 

 operation of ascertaining the rate and direction of a current 

 in the variables, in latitude 3 Q North ; and the sun fish was 



killed in Table Bay. Yours, truly, 



To Dr. Smith, ■ . W. D. Webster. 



LcHEXEfc, TRIAINUEUS. 



E. lividus, striis capitis septem, cauda trifurcata. 



Colour a fine slate blue, disk on head with seven lamina? ; 

 lower jaw considerably longer than the upper; pectoral fii;s 

 ill, ami a quarter of an inch in length ; ventrals half 

 an inch ; anal fin extends from the vent to the tail, and the 

 dorsal is of equal length, and directly over it. The tail is 

 singularly trifurcated, the central portion is three-tenths of 

 an inch in length, and extends considerably beyond either 

 the upper or lower segments. 

 Cepiialus Barrowii. 



C. obscuro-cinereus, cutis scabra, cauda minala et tripartita 

 pinna dorsalis et analis conicce, antrorsum leviter curvatce. 



Colour dull gray, skin rough and scabrous ; pectoral fins, 

 fawn shaped, seven inches long and four and a half broad ; 

 dorsal and anal fins opposite to each other, and precisely 

 similar as to shape, size, and structure; they are each two 

 ieet one inch long, eight inches wide at the base, and ter- 

 minated in a point, presenting the figure of a cone slightly 

 curved forwards. The tail is very small, nearly continuous 

 with the outline of the body, and composed of thi-ee equal 

 curvilinear or scolloped portions, each nearly two inches 

 long. Length seven feet five inches, breadth three feet nine 

 inches, and weight presumed from the number of men re- 

 quired to drag it, eight hundred weight. The subcutaneous 

 stratum was from two to three inches in thickness, of a deli- 

 cate white colour, and of a firm solid, somewhat elastic struc- 

 ture, resembling soft cartilage or gristle. Such seems ad- 

 mirably adapted for the resisting of wounds or injuries from 

 the more active and predaceous fishes. In itself it must be, 

 nparatively speaking, a harmless species, of little power ol 

 ion. and, from the smallness of its mouth, of not a very 



