COREGONUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 433 



LENGTH. From four to ten inches. JARD. 



DK SCRIPT. (Form.) Differs essentially from the C. Lavaretus in 

 having the lower jaw longest, and ascending at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees to meet the upper, which receives it as in a groove: general 

 outline similar : greatest depth exactly one-fourth of the entire length, 

 caudal excluded: head small; "the crown heart-shaped, and so trans- 

 parent that the form of the skull and brain may be seen through the 

 integuments * :" maxillaries and lower jaw without teeth : tongue, which 

 is small and triangular, and placed far back, rough to the touch, with 

 a few, almost invisible, velvet-like teeth : eyes large and brilliant ; their 

 diameter contained three times and a half in the length of the head ; the 

 intervening space scarcely equal to their diameter: gill-opening very 

 large : lateral line straight : " scales of considerable size, oval, and nearly 

 smooth on the outer surface : " dorsal commencing at the middle of the 

 entire length ; .very much elevated and pointed anteriorly, its greatest 

 height being nearly twice its length ; first ray very short ; fourth longest ; 

 fifth and succeeding rays rapidly decreasing ; the last not half the length 

 of the fourth ; first three simple, the rest branched : space between the 

 dorsal and adipose more than double that between the adipose and 

 caudal : anal commencing a little beyond the tip of the reclined dorsal, 

 and terminating in a line with the adipose ; first ray very minute ; fourth 

 and fifth longest; first four simple, the rest branched: caudal very much 

 forked: pectorals attached low down: ventrals opposed to the anterior 

 half of the dorsal ; the axillary scale scarcely more than one-fourth of 

 their length: 



B. 9 ; D. 12 ; A. 14 ; C. 19, &c. ; P. 15 ; V. 11. 



"Number of vertebrae fifty to fifty-two." (Colours.) "Upper parts of 

 a delicate greenish brown, shading gradually into a clear silver lustre : 

 irides and cheeks silvery : dorsal fin greenish brown ; the lower fins all 

 bluish white." JARD. 



First distinguished as a British species by Sir W. Jardine. By pre- 

 vious authors in this country it appears to have been confounded with 

 the C. Lavaretus. The only locality known for it " is the lochs in the 

 neighbourhood of Lochmaben, in Dumfries-shire ;" into which (according 

 to tradition) it was introduced by Mary Queen of Scots. " General habits 

 resembling those of the Gwiniad. Swims in large shoals, retiring to the 

 depths of the lakes in warm and clear weather. Spawns about the com- 

 mencement of November." 



(3.) SCOPELUS, Cuv. 



(21.) Humboldti, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 315. S. borealis, 



Nilss. Prod. Ichth. Scand. p. 20. Sheppy Argentine, Penn. 



Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 327. pi. 65. no. 156. Id. (Edit. 1812.) 

 vol. in. p. 432. pi. 76. 



jast Demg me type ot his genus dcopelus. The fallowing is Pennant's 

 description of his fish, which he obtained from the sea near Downing, in 

 1769. "Length two inches and one-fourth. Eyes large; irides silvery : 

 lower jaw sloped much : teeth small: body compressed, and of an equal 

 depth almost to the anal fin : tail forked. Back of a dusky green : the 

 sides and covers of the gills as if plated with silver. Lateral line in the 

 middle and quite straight. On each side of the belly a row of circular 

 punctures : above them another, ceasing near the vent." 



Whether the Argentine of Lowt be the same as Pennant's fish, can 

 scarcely, from his imperfect description, be determined. 



* Sir W. Jardine. t Faun. Oread, p. 225. 



EE 



