66 THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF EUROPE. 



longest specimen measures about two and a half inches. Its form, as com- 

 pared with the foregoing type, is more graceful, owing to a greater lateral 

 compression of the body. The head is shorter and more compressed, and it is 

 distinguished by its colouring. The shining skin is a bright chestnut, finely 

 sanded with black, and marked with large black spots, which are diffused over 

 the head and all the body except the ventral region, which is of a uniform 

 yellowish-white. On the sides of the head and on the back, large irregular 

 spots of a blackish-brown form short transverse bands down the fish, and 

 are close together. 



The fins also have brown and black spots on them, especially the caudal 

 and hinder rays of the dorsal. 



The head is more abruptly truncated than in the type of the species, and 

 the occipital crest is less marked. The dentition shows no variation. The 

 dorsal fin never contains more than twenty-six to twenty-nine rays; the pec- 

 torals have eleven rays, and the anal fin seventeen or eighteen rays. These 

 differences seem to us to mark a variety rather than a species. 



FAMILY: ATHERINID^E. 

 GENUS: Atherina (ARTEDI). 



This genus is widely distributed in temperate and tropical seas, and is 

 familiarly known from its type, the Sand Smelt, Atherina presbyter, 



The body is thick sub-cylindrical, or slightly compressed. The snout 

 is blunt. The cleft of the mouth extends at least as far back as the 

 front of the eye. The teeth are small. The scales are of the cycloid 

 type. A silvery band extends along the side of the body. The ventral fins 

 are placed behind the pectorals. The intestine has no pyloric appendages. 

 An air-bladder is present. 



About twenty-four species are known from Australia, Tasmania, the East 

 Indian Archipelago, the seas of China and Japan, the east coast of Africa from 

 the Cape of Good Hope to the Red Sea, the West Indies, the Mediter- 

 ranean, the Black Sea, and the British shores. 



Atherina lacnstris is the only European species limited to fresh water, 

 though A. mocho, A. loyeri, A. hepsetus, enter fresh waters in Spain and the 

 south of Europe. 



