TRIGLA] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 341 



snout more emarginated, with three or four rather blunt denticulations 

 on each side : gape more capacious : supra-scapulars triangular, the ter- 

 minating spine rather more pointed : the opercular and clavicular spines 

 preserve the same proportions, the former scarcely projecting beyond the 

 membrane: lateral line straight, slender, and almost perfectly smooth, 

 like the rest of the body with the exception of the dorsal ridges, which 

 are strongly serrated : spines in the first dorsal not so strong as in the 

 T.Pini; the first with very obsolete denticulations ; the second scarcely 

 longer than the adjoining ones, and equalling not above two- thirds of the 

 depth of the body: pectorals contained three times and a half in the whole 

 length : number of fin rays, 



D. 916; A. 16 ; C. 11 or 13 ; P. 10, and 3 ; V. 1/5 : 



scales very small, oval, smooth, entire ; those on the lateral line scarcely 

 projecting beyond the others. Number of vertebrae thirty-three or thirty- 

 four. (Colours.) General colour of the head and body brownish red, here 

 and there faintly tinged with yellowish green : pectorals bluish green on 

 their inner surface, edged and spotted with bright blue ; on their outer 

 surface brownish red with the rays whitish : first dorsal reddish ; second, 

 as well as the anal and ventrals, nearly white. 



Common on the southern and western coasts, attaining a larger size 

 than any other British species, the T. Lyra excepted. Is sometimes 

 called a Tub-Fish. According to Mr. Couch, "sheds its spawn about 

 Christmas." Obs. Linnaeus and Pennant have erroneously attributed 

 to this species a rough lateral line, a circumstance which appears to 

 have misled Montagu, when he established a second under the name 

 of T. lewis. All the individuals which have fallen under my notice 

 have had this part perfectly smooth, neither does Cuvier seem at all 

 aware of there being any allied species in which it is otherwise. 



13. T. Lyra, Linn. (Piper.) Lateral line smooth: 

 pectorals large, reaching beyond the ventrals : humeral and 

 opercular spines extremely long : snout divided into two 

 dentated processes. 



T. Lyra, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 496. Block, Ichth. pi. 350. 

 Don. Brit. Fish, vol.v. pi. 118. Flem. Brit. An. p. 215. Piper, 

 Will. Hist. Pise. p. 282. tab. S. 1. f. 4. Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. 

 p.279. pi. 55. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. m. p. 374. pi. 67. Yarr. Brit. 

 Fish. vol. i. p. 44. La Lyre, Cuv. et Vol. Poiss. torn. iv. p. 40. 

 Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 159. 



LENGTH. From twenty to twenty-eight inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Readily distinguished from all the other British 

 species by the length of the opercular and humeral spines. Head very 

 large : depth at the nape a little less than one-fifth of the whole length ; 

 length of the head one-fourth: snout deeply emarginated; the lateral 

 lobes much more produced than in any other species ; the margin of 

 each lobe divided into twelve or fifteen teeth, the middle ones long and 

 pointed : the whole head finely granulated : only one, rather strong, spine 

 at the anterior angle of the orbit: the spine on the supra-scapular, and 

 the large one on the opercle, longer and sharper than in any other spe- 

 cies ; the humeral spine still more developed ; the humeral bone, when 

 measured to the end of the spine, equalling more than half the length of 

 the head : first dorsal with the rays very sharp, a little bent, and smooth ; 

 the first and second only with their anterior edges obsoletely denticu- 



