HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 49 



Pectorals very much elongated ; the rays of first half are simple, the others branched. 



Ventrals stout, subtriangular ; at their base a strong spinous process, covered with 

 scales, connected along its edge by several membranous attachments. The first ray 

 is spinous. 



The anal shuts anteriorly into a deep groove, as does also the dorsal. Its first three 

 rays are spinous ; the second is much the largest. 



Caudal slightly truncated ; the interspaces between its rays are well scaled at first. 



D. 12-12. P. 16. V. 1-6. A. 3-2. C. 22. Length twenty inches. 



Remarks. This delicious fish, which has been so minutely described and so highly 

 eulogized by Mitchill, in his "History of the Fishes of New York," is occasionally taken 

 in the waters of Massachusetts south of Cape Cod. Thomas A. Greene, Esq. of New 

 Bedford, informs me it is sometimes sold in that market from the above-noticed locality. 

 Dr. Mitchill speaks of it " as the most esteemed of the New York fishes, and fetching 

 a higher price than any, excepting, perhaps, fresh salmon and trout"; and Dekay re- 

 marks, " The sheep's-head holds the same rank with American gastronomes that the 

 turbot holds in Europe. I have frequently eaten of both, under equally favorable 

 conditions, that is to say, within an hour after having been taken from the water, and 

 can assert that the sheep's-head is the more delicate and savory fish." 



Massachusetts, Storer. Connecticut, Ayres. New York, Mitchill, Cuvier, De- 

 kay. Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Lesueur. 



GENUS II. PAGRUS, Cuv. 

 But two rows of small, rounded molar teeth in each jaw. 



Pagrus argyrops, Cuv. 



The Scapaug. 



(Plate X. Fig. 4.)] 



Spams argyrops, Lin., Syst. Nat., Gmel., p. 1277. 



" " Silver-eyed Spams, Shaw, Gen. Zool., lv. p. 426. 



Labrus versicolor, Biy Porgee o/Neio York; Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., I. p. 404, pi. 3, fig. 7. 

 Le Pagre mil-oVargent, Pagrus argyrops, Cvv. et Val., ti. p. 164. 



" " Big Porgee, Scapaug, Scup, Storer, Report, p. 38. 



" " " Dekay, Report, p. 95, pi. 9, fig. 25. 



" " Linsley, Cat. of Fishes of Conn. 



" " Porgee, Ayres, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv. p. 260. 



" " Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., New Series, II. p. 334. 



" " Storer, Synopsis, p. 82. 



Color. When just caught, this fish is of a beautiful pinkish tinge or flesh-color upon 

 the upper portion of the sides ; abdomen silvery. The naked portion of the head, be- 



