180 NATURAL HISTORY [Fishes. 



the back-fin, which was all it had, one inch and three quar- 

 ters long ; from the end of that fin to the point of the tail six 

 inches ; the body about the thickness of a pretty large quill ; 

 the nose was compressed sidewise ; the end of the lower 

 mandible turned up ; the aperture of the mouth very small. 



The irides were red ; behind each eye was a deep brown 

 line. 



The body was angular, but the angles not very sharp, and 

 not easily seen till the fish was dried ; the belly was slightly 

 carinated, and marked along the middle with a dusky line. 



The general colour of the fish was an olive brown ; the 

 sides markjed with bluish lines, pointing from the back to the 

 belly, which, in a dried fish, looked like the signs of so many 

 joints. Those in a fresh subject ceased beyond the vent ; all 

 beyond that was spotted with brown ; the dorsal fin was nar- 

 row and thin, consisting of thirty-eight rays. 



The vent (in mine) was five inches from the nose ; the body 

 to that was of an equal thickness, but from thence tapered to 

 a very small point, having no mark of a fin. 



It was covered with numbers of angular crusts, finely radi- 

 ated from their centre ; but these do not appear so well in 

 this as the next species to be described. 



Mr Pennant adds, they are viviparous, and hundreds of 

 minute young ones had been forced out of one of them. 



