igo 



RUBESCENT BAND-FISH. 



Cepola Rubescens. C. rubescens, pinna caudce attenuata, mamttw 



acutis. 



Reddish Band-fish, with attenuated tail, and pointed jaws. 

 Myrus alter, site Serpens rubescens Rondektii. Aldr. pix. p. 367. 

 Qphidium macropthalmum. Lin. Syst. Nat. ed. X. p. 25p. 



THIS species, which seems to be far rarer than 

 the preceding, and which is not very distinctly 

 described by those authors who have seen it, is 

 said to have a pointed rather than a rounded head, 

 and to be not so thin in the body : to be of a pale 

 red colour throughout, marked transversely by nu- 

 merous, narrow, and somewhat undulated streaks : 

 lateral line as in the preceding species : back and 

 vent fin placed ajs in the former, but shallower, and 

 with more disjoined or separated rays : indeed from 

 the expression of Rondeletius one might doubt 

 whether he meant that the rays were connected by 

 &ny membrane or not ; (" In dorso a capite ad 

 caudam velut capillamenta tenuia a sese disjuncta ; 

 in ventre similia.") It is questioned, and not with- 

 out reason, by Willughby whether the fish be any 

 thing more than some variety of the former kind ; 

 and so far as can be judged from the rude figures 

 of Rondeletius and Aldrovandus, it can scarcely 

 be considered as a distinct species. It is said to be 

 a native of the Mediterranean. 



