ANGUILLA.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 475 



vol. in. p. 142. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. HI. p. 191. Bawd. Brit, 

 fr. wat. Fish. Draw. no. 7. Sharp-headed Eel, Yarr. in ZooL 

 Journ. vol. 4. p. 469. L'Anguille long-bee, Guv. Reg. An. torn. n. 

 p. 349. 



LENGTH. Usual length from two to three, sometimes four, feet : has 

 been known to attain to six feet three inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Very much elongated; body thick, approaching 

 to cylindrical ; the depth and thickness nearly uniform for three-fourths 

 of the entire length ; the last quarter compressed and slightly tapering : 

 depth, taken at the commencement of the dorsal fin, equalling about one- 

 sixteenth of the entire length : head, measured from the end of the snout 

 to the branchial orifice, contained nearly eight times and three-quarters 

 in the same ; convex, and slightly elevated, at the nape, from which point 

 the profile slopes forward, becoming much depressed above the eyes : 

 snout sharp and attenuated, compared with that of the two next species ; 

 the sides rather compressed: jaws gradually narrowing towards their 

 extremities, which are slightly rounded ; the lower one a little the long- 

 est; both furnished with a broad band of velvet-like teeth, the band above 

 dilating on to the fore part of the vomer : gape small ; the commissure of 

 the lips not extending to a vertical line drawn as a tangent to the pos- 

 terior part of the orbit: eyes small; the distance from them to the end 

 of the snout not equalling twice their diameter ; the space between them 

 rather less than the above distance : nostrils double ; the anterior orifice 

 tubular, situate on the edge of the upper lip, the posterior one a simple 

 pore immediately in advance of the eye : a row of pores above the upper 

 lip on each side, and another forming the commencement of the lateral 

 line ; which last arises a little above the pectorals, and passes off straight 

 to the extremity of the tail : gill-opening reduced to a small round aper- 

 ture, immediately before, and a little below, the pectoral fin : scales very 

 minute, scarcely visible, deeply imbedded in a thick, soft, slimy skin : 

 dorsal commencing at about (sometimes a little before) one-third of the 

 entire length ; low, preserving throughout the same elevation, which 

 equals scarcely more than one- fourth of the depth: vent before the 

 middle of the entire length by a space equalling the depth of the body ; 

 anal commencing immediately behind it, similar to the dorsal : both 

 dorsal and anal are carried quite to the extremity of the tail, forming by 

 their union a pointed caudal : pectorals small and rounded, not half the 

 length of the head ; the distance from the line of their insertion to the 

 end of the snout contained eight times and a half in the entire length, 

 and about twice and three-quarters in the portion anterior to the com- 

 mencement of the dorsal fin : ventrals wanting. Number of vertebrae 

 one hundred and thirteen*. (Colours.) Upper part of the head, back, 

 and a large portion of the sides, dark olivaceous green, tinged with 

 brown ; lower part of the sides paler : throat, belly, and a portion of the 

 anal fin, yellowish white. 



Common in rivers, lakes, and other fresh-waters, throughout the coun- 

 try. Attains to a larger size than either of the two following species, with 

 which it was formerly confounded. Two taken some years since in a fen- 

 dyke near Wisbeach, in Cambridgeshire, weighed together fifty pounds ; 

 the heaviest twenty-eight, the other twenty-two pounds. Usually, how- 

 ever, much smaller. Generally considered as viviparous, but, from the 

 observations of Mr. Yarrell, it is probable that this is not the caset. In 

 the Autumn, migrates down the rivers, in order, it is said, to pass the 



* The number of vertebrae rests on the authority of Mr. Yarrell. 



t See on this subject Proceed, of ZooL Soc. 1831. p. 133; also Jesse's Glean, in Nat. Hist. 

 (Second Series), p. 57, &c. 



