TRACHINUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 335 



rals about equal to the pectorals, placed immediately beneath them ; the 

 first ray spinous, rather more than half as long as the third, which is 

 longest ; all the soft rays much branched : number of rays, 



D. 14/12 ; A. 2/5 ; C. 17 ; P. 14 ; V. 1/5. 



Number of vertebrse thirty-seven. (Colours.) Back and upper half of 

 the sides pale brown, inclining to olivaceous ; lower portion of the sides 

 with a slight lustre of golden yellow : belly silvery : cheeks, opercle, and 

 breast, of a pearly hue, with a play of iridescent colours varying accord- 

 ing to the light : head, back, and a portion of the sides, sprinkled with 

 brownish spots: dorsal, caudal, and pectorals, yellowish gray, speckled 

 with brown ; ventrals and anal pale yellowish white, without spots : 

 irides with the upper portion dusky, the lower half inclining to golden 

 yellow. 



Not uncommon in rivers and clear streams. Said to have been first 

 observed by Dr. Caius in the river Yare near Norwich. Habits some- 

 what resembling those of the Perch. Seldom exceeds a weight of three 

 ounces. Spawns in March and April. Is sometimes called a Pope. 



GEN. 2. TRACHINUS, Linn. 



6. T. Draco, Linn. (Great Weever.) Entire length 

 six times the depth of the body : second dorsal with about 

 thirty rays : lower jaw ascending. 



T. Draco, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 435. Cuv. et Vol. Poiss. 



torn. in. p. 178. Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 152. T. major, Don. 



Brit. Fish. vol. v. pi. 107. Flem. Brit. An. p. 214. Weever, 



Will. Hist. Pise. p. 288. tab. S. 10. f. 1. Great Weever, Penn. 



Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 171. pi. 29. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. in. 



p. 229. pi. 33. Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 20. 

 LENGTH. From twelve to fifteen inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Elongated; head and sides much compressed; 

 entire length more than six times the depth of the body, and more than 

 four times the length of the head ; greatest thickness half the depth : 

 head and back nearly in a continuous straight line; the profile slightly 

 falling from the forehead ; abdomen scarcely more convex than the back : 

 lower jaw longer than the upper, and sloping upwards to meet it ; both 

 armed, as well as the vomer, palatines, pterygoidians, and pharyngeans, 

 with fine sharp velvet-like teeth ; arch-bones of the gills with a number 

 of serrated tooth-like processes : before and rather above each eye are 

 two short strong spines ; there is also a strong sharp spine on the upper 

 part of the opercle, but not projecting beyond the edge of the membrane: 

 supra-scapulars represented by a large denticulated scale : lateral line 

 straight ; its course at rather "less than one-fourth of the depth : scales 

 small, disposed in oblique transverse rows : first dorsal very short, com- 

 mencing immediately above the denticulated scale ; spines stiflf and very 

 sharp ; the third longest ; those on each side gradually decreasing ; the 

 last very small and partly concealed: second dorsal immediately after 

 the first, almost continuous with it, and extending nearly to the caudal : 

 anal thick and fleshy, rather longer than the second dorsal, the ends 

 of the rays reaching beyond the webs, and somewhat hooked : caudal 

 scarcely notched : pectorals two-thirds of the length of the head ; the 

 third and six following rays branched, the others simple ; ninth ray long- 

 est : ventrals before the pectorals, and scarcely more than half their 



