Dr. A. Giinther on the British Species of Mugil. 349 



5. Mugil septentrionalis, n. sp. (The Thick-lipped Grey Mullet.) 



Nine (rarely ten) soft rays in the anal fin ; upper lip thick, 

 with two series of short and obtuse papillae on its inferior third ; 

 the extremity of the maxillary is visible behind and below the 

 angle of the mouth. The prseorbital is very obliquely truncated, 

 so that its posterior angle is pointed, whilst the anterior is very 

 obtuse and rounded. Mandibles very broad, almost entirely 

 covering the chin. The pectoral extends to the tenth scale of 

 the lateral line ; that is, it terminates at a considerable distance 

 from the origin of the dorsal fin, which is above the fifteenth 

 scale, and exactly on the middle between the snout and the base 

 of the caudal, 



Mr. Couch* has the merit of having shown that, besides M, 

 capita, a second species of Grey Mullet exists on the British 

 coasts ; and finding that it has a similarly thick lip as M. chelo 

 from the Mediterranean, he has considered it as identical with 

 this southern species. Both the northern and the southern thick- 

 lipped Mullets, indeed, are very similar to each other ; and it has 

 been nearly impossible to see, or to show, their specific differ- 

 ences otherwise than by comparison of actual specimens, as the 

 descriptions and representations existing have taken little notice 

 of the distinctive characters. Yarrell and Parnell have adopted 

 Mr. Couch's determination, the latter giving an original descrip- 

 tion f, in which, however, some of the numbers of the fin-rays 

 are erroneous (2. D. 10, A. 11, instead of 2. D.^, A. |); Hancock's 

 M. britannicus is placed by him here as a synonym, whilst it is 

 described by Hancock as having thin lips, &c. 



The characters by which this species differs from the southern 

 are the following: — 



M. chelo. M. septentrionalis. 



1. The upper hp is considerably thicker in M. chelo, and pro- 

 vided with three series of papillae. 



2. The form of the prseorbital is entirely different : in M. 

 chelo its extremity is rounded, the anterior angle being not much 



* Couch, MS. in Yarr. Brit. Fishes, 2nd edit. vol. i. p. 241. 

 t Fishes of the Frith of Forth, p. 68. 



