MOTELLA.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 451 



times inclining to green ; generally without spots : belly whitish, tinged 

 with silvery. 



Much more abundant than the M. tricirrata, and met with on most 

 parts of the British coast. By Willughby, the two species were con- 

 sidered simply as varieties of one, which he describes under the general 

 name of Mustela vulgaris *. Some modern authors, amongst whom may 

 be reckoned Mr. Couch t, are inclined to the same opinion. 



137. M. glauca, Nob. (Mackerel Midge.) " Back 

 bluish green ; all besides silvery : five barbules." 



Midge (Ciliata glauca), Couch in Loud. Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. v. 

 p. 15. fig. 2. and p. 741. 



LENGTH. One inch three lines. COUCH. 



DESCRIPT. " Body moderately elongated, the proportions much resem- 

 bling those of the Whiting : head obtuse : upper jaw longest, having 

 four barbs, the under jaw one; teeth in both jaws: gill-membrane with 

 seven rays : eyes large and bright : pectoral and ventral fins rather large 

 for the size of the fish : a ciliated membrane placed in a chink behind the 

 head : the dorsal and anal fins reaching almost to the tail, which last is 

 large and straight : scales deciduous. Colour of the back bluish green : 

 belly and fins silvery." COUCH. 



This fish, which has been noticed only by Mr. Couch, will probably 

 prove eventually to be the fry of some other species. This gentleman 

 states that it is found in multitudes on the Cornish coast, swimming near 

 the surface ; and that it is migratory, making its first appearance about 

 the middle of May. When Winter approaches, they disappear ; he is dis- 

 posed, however, to think that they do not go to a great distance. 



(26.) Gadus argenteolus, Mont, in Wern. Mem. vol. n. p. 449. 

 Flem. Brit. An. p. 193. 



" Head obtuse : cirri three ; two before the nostrils, and one on the 

 chin : upper jaw longest : eyes lateral ; irides silvery : all the fins of 

 a pale colour, and the whole fish of a silvery resplendence, except the 

 back, which is blue, changeable to dark green ; pectorals rounded, with 

 sixteen or eighteen rays : ventrals with six or seven, the middle ray 

 considerably the longest, and placed much before the pectorals : first 

 dorsal commencing above the gills ; the rays very minute and obscure, 

 the first excepted, which is much the longest, but more than thirty have 

 been counted : second dorsal commencing close to the other, in a line 

 with the end of the pectorals, and terminating close to the caudal ; the 

 rays innumerable : anal beginning immediately behind the vent, and 

 terminating even with the dorsal : caudal nearly even at the end. Length 

 about two inches." MONT. 



This fish is supposed by Montagu to constitute a new species. He 

 mentions having noticed many of them thrown upon the shore in the 

 South of Devonshire, in the Summer of 1808, and adds, that he had taken 

 two or three since. The fishermen, he observes, called it White-Bait. 

 It has, however, so much the character of the fry of some larger species, 

 that it cannot be viewed without doubt. Had it not been said to possess 

 but three cirri, I should have thought it the same as Mr. Couch's Mackerel 

 Midge. Montagu appears to be quite certain that it is not the young of 

 the Motella tricirrata. 



* Hist. Pise. p. 121. f See Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 73. 



FF2 



