GEN. ORTHAGORISCTJS. OBLONG SUN-FISH. 287 



it chiefly on the length of the pectoral fin, which 

 terminates in a point, and the body being hard, the 

 surface divided into small angular compartments, 

 which indicate some relation between this group 

 and the Ostracinae. The length of 0. oblongus is 

 always more than twice, sometimes approaches to 

 three times, the depth of the body ; and although 

 the surface is divided into minute compartments, it 

 is smooth. "We believe that only four instances are 

 on record of this fish being found in our seas. Dr. 

 Borlase, in his Natural History of Cornwall, figures 

 and describes a specimen from Mount's Bay; and 

 speaks of another taken at Plymouth in 1734 which 

 weighed five hundred pounds. Donovan obtained 

 a small specimen from the Bristol Channel, from 

 which the figure was taken for his Natural History 

 of British Fishes (pi. 41). Recently a specimen was 

 caught in a newly made canal at a short distance 

 from Towey, in Cornwall, of which an account is 

 given by Mr. Couch in the 6th volume of the Annals 

 of Nat. Hist. The species is said by Cuvier to oc- 

 cur at the Cape of Good Hope. 



