GEN. PHYCIS. GREAT FORKED HAKE. 215 



Gen. LXXIX. PHYCIS. The most marked pe- 

 culiarity in Phycis is in the construction of the ven- 

 tral fins, each of which consists of a single cirriform 

 ray, usually about one-third of the length of the 

 body, and divided a little before the middle into two 

 unequal branches. The dorsal fins are two in num- 

 ber, the first triangukr ; the second, as well as the 

 anal, long, and nearly as in Merluccius and Lota : 

 chin with one barbule. 



(Sp. 166.) P. furcatus. Great Forked Hake. 

 The form of the pectorals, from which this species 

 derives its name, will at once distinguish it from all 

 the other British fishes, but there are several others 

 very similar to it in other seas, such as the P. longi- 

 pinnis of Swainson, a native of the Mediterranean. 

 In that fish the length of the fins in question is 

 about half that of the body ; in the British species 

 they are about a third the length of the body. The 

 first dorsal in P. furcatus is acutely pointed, and 

 it is nearly twice as high as the second dorsal : this 

 circumstance distinguishes it from the most com- 

 mon species of the Mediterranean {Phycis Mediter- 

 raneus of Laroche, supposed by Cuvier to be the 

 true Blennlus phycis of Linnaeus), in which the an- 

 terior dorsal is rounded and elevated above the 

 adjoining fin, while the length of the ventrals does 

 not exceed that of the head. 



This must be ranked among the rarer of our 

 British fishes It has been observed in the seas of 

 all the three kingdoms, but only in small numbers 

 and at distant intervals. The only exception to 



