SORDID DRAGONET. 117 



ance when fresh taken : the blue is of an inexpressi- 

 ble splendor"; the richest cserulean, glowing with a, 

 gemmeous brilliancy : the throat black." In the 

 Philosophical Transactions, vol. 24, this fish is 

 described by Dr. Tyson under the name of Yellow 

 Gurnard ; Dr. Tyson seems to have ranked it 

 among the Gurnards from its general habit, as well 

 as from the sharp processes of the gill-covers, each 

 of which, at its end, is armed with a triple spine. 

 Linnaeus once considered it as a species of Trachinus 

 or Weever, and Gronovius referred it to the genus 

 Uranoscopus. 



SORDID DRAGONET. 



Callionymus Dracunculus. C. pinnce dorsalis prioris radiis 

 corpore brevioribus. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel.p. 1152. 



Dragonet with the rays of the first dorsal fin shorter than the 

 body. 



Dracunculus. Will, ichth. p. 136. 



Callionymus radiis 4 in pinna dorsali brevibus. Block. 5. t. 

 162. 



Sordid Dragonet. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 147. pi. 28. 



THIS species seems so nearly allied to the pre- 

 ceding, that it may perhaps be doubted whether it 

 may not be in reality the same animal in a less 

 advanced state. It is thus described by Mr. Pen- 

 nant. " Length six inches and a half: head com- 

 pressed ; forehead sloping down to the nose, being 

 not so level as that of the preceding : eyes large 



