AMMODYTES.] PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. 483 



(Colours.) Back, and upper part of the sides, brown, a little varied with 

 blue and green : one or two dusky lines running parallel with the dorsal 

 fin : lower part of the sides, and belly, silvery. 



Not so common on the British coast as the next, with which it was 

 confounded previously to M. Lesauvage, who first pointed out (1. c.) the 

 distinguishing characters of the two species. Generally keeps near the 

 shore, burying itself in the sand, at the ebb of the tide, to the depth 

 of one or two feet. Food, marine worms, and, according to Bloch, the 

 young of its own species. Is much used as a bait for other fish. Said to 

 spawn in May. 



171. A. Lancea, Cuv. (Small-mouthed Launce.) 

 Gape not so large ; maxillaries short ; the pedicels of the 

 intermaxillaries very long: dorsal commencing before the 

 extremities of the pectorals. 



A. Lancea, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. 11. p. 360. A. Tobianus, Don. Brit. 

 Fish. vol. n. pi. 33. Swains. Zool. Illust. vol. i. pi. 63. upper fig. 

 Lesauv. in Bull, des Sci. Nat. (1825.) torn. iv. p. 262. Flem. Brit. 

 An. p. 201. Ammodytes, Will. Hist. Pise. p. 113. Launce, 

 Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. pi. 25. no. 66. but not p. 156. Sand- 

 Launce, Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. m. pi. 28. but not p. 206. 



LENGTH. From five to eight inches; rarely more. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Much thicker in proportion than the A. Tobi- 

 anus; in a fish measuring one-fourth less in length, the depth and 

 thickness remain the same as in that species : head a perfect cone, con- 

 tained five times and a half in the entire length : lower jaw not produced 

 so far beyond the upper, and less pointed : the two teeth on the vomer 

 much less developed : gape smaller, the maxillaries being much shorter ; 

 the pedicels of the intermaxillaries, on the contrary, are considerably 

 longer, very much increasing the protractility of the upper jaw, which, 

 when the mouth is opened, instead of turning back as in the last species, 

 protrudes itself forwards and downwards, the maxillaries never becoming 

 vertical : the pieces of the opercle not so much developed, nor produced 

 so far backwards, but preserving the same form: dorsal commencing 

 a little nearer the head, in a line with the commencement of the last 

 quarter of the pectorals : both dorsal and anal contain fewer rays : pec- 

 torals exactly half the length of the head : in other respects the forms 

 of the two species are similar. 



D. 53 or 54; A. 28; C. 15, &c.; P. 13. 



(Colours.) Similar to those of the A. Tobianus, only paler. 



Common on all our sandy shores, in which it may be found buried 

 at the ebb of the tide. Habits resembling those of the last species. Obs. 

 Willughby has erroneously figured this species (tab. G. 8. f. 1.) with two 

 dorsal fins : his description, however, is correct. 



H H2 



