GADUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 443 



eluding caudal: snout obtuse and rounded ; upper jaw a little the long- 

 est: a single row of sharp moderately long teeth in the lower jaw; the 

 same in the upper with a band of smaller teeth behind : barbule at the 

 chin about one-fourth the length of the head : eyes large ; their diameter 

 one-third the length of the head ; invested with a loose membranous skin 

 capable of inflation ; the distance between the eyes less than their dia- 

 meter: scales not particularly large: lateral line curved, the flexure 

 taking place beneath the commencement of the second dorsal ; anterior 

 to which its course is at rather more than one-fourth of the depth : be- 

 neath the lower jaw, on each side, a row of seven or eight open pores : 

 fins thick, fleshy at the base, invested with a loose skin: first dorsal 

 commencing at about one- third of the entire length, excluding caudal; 

 second and" third rays longest; fourth and succeeding ones gradually 

 decreasing ; the last very short ; greatest height of this fin about two- 

 thirds the depth of the body : second dorsal commencing at a very short 

 interval after the first ; more than twice its length ; third ray longest : 

 third dorsal closely following the second; in length, a little exceeding 

 the first; third and fourth rays longest: first anal commencing in a line 

 with the second ray of the first dorsal, and terminating in a line with 

 the last ray of the second dorsal ; the rays gradually increasing to the 

 eleventh, which is longest, the first being very short :" second anal imme- 

 diately following the first; answering to the third dorsal; fourth ray 

 longest: caudal nearly even: pectorals about three-fourths the length 

 of the head ; third and fourth rays longest : ventrals long and narrow ; 

 the first two rays very much produced beyond the others, terminating 

 in slender filaments; the second, which is the longer, rather more than 

 equalling the length of the pectorals : number of fin-rays, 



D. 122319 ; A. 3521 ; C. 31, and some short ones ; P. 18 ; V. 6 : 



vent directly beneath the commencement of the first dorsal. (Colours.) 

 Whitish, inclining to dusky olivaceous on the back; sides tinged with 

 yellow : fins dusky, becoming paler at the base ; a dusky spot at the root 

 of the pectorals. 



Common all along the southern coast, where it is taken in considerable 

 quantities for the table. Found also in other places. It is the Whiting 

 Pout of the London market. Obs. I have ventured to bring together (as 

 Bloch has already done before me) the G. luscus and G. barbatus of 

 authors, under a strong belief that they form but one species*. Should 



* This opinion has not been adopted hastily. I have in vain sought for any author who has 

 described both the supposed species from his own observation, and after a due comparison of 

 their respective characters. The error of considering them as distinct appears to have originated 

 with Ray, the Editor of Willughby's Ichthyology. It would seem that Willughby was the first 

 to describe a fish (called in Cornwall Bib or Blinds) under the name of Asellus luscus, a species 

 evidently the same as the Pout of the Southern coast, to which Willughby's description, as far as 

 it goes, applies exactly. After that the body of his work was printed, Ray, his Editor, appears to 

 have received from Martin Lister, along with other novelties, a short account of the Whiting 

 Pout of the London market, to which he gave a separate place in the Appendix, never suspecting 

 that it might be the same as what had been already described by Willughby under the name of 

 Bib. Hence the two nominal species, which were afterwards perpetuated by Ray in his "Synopsis 

 Piscium ; " and either to that work or Willughby's, the descriptions of all succeeding authors, 

 so far as regards one of the species, when they have noticed both, may ultimately be traced. 

 This is the case with Artedi, in the instance of the G. luscus. He simply refers to Ray and Wil- 

 lughby, annexing a short character, apparently taken from the description by the author last 

 mentioned. This character is repeated by Linnaeus in his "Systema Naturae, accompanied by 

 a reference to Artedi. Pennant's account of the two species is partly copied, and partly original : 

 his description of the Pout is perhaps his own ; but that of the Bib is in a great measure taken 

 from Willughby, and althougn he has made one or two additional remarks, as well as annexed 

 a figure, I question whether these were derived from any fish specifically distinct from his 

 Whiting Pout. Gmelin, who, with respect to the G. luscus, only compiles from Willughby and 

 Pennant, appears to have suspected that the two fish were not really different. Berkenhout 

 states nothing beyond what is mentioned either by Willughby, Pennant, or Gmelin. Turton's 

 descriptions of the two species are evidently compiled from Pennant and Gmelin, excepting as 

 regards the number of fin-rays in the G. luscus, in which there is manifestly some error. Lastly, 



