GREA T BRITAIN. 237 



distance from the base of the caudal fin. Ventral situated 

 nearly midway between the opercle and the base of the 

 caudal fin. Caudal forked, lower lobe the longer. Colours. 

 Of a sea-green or bluish-green along the back, becoming 

 of a changeable blue and purple along the sides, and into 

 silvery white beneath. 



Fleming ('Brit. Anim.' 1828, p. 184) observes upon Esox 

 Brasilicnsis (Couch) being the young of this species : 

 while many authors seem to have been doubtful whether 

 the various European Hemiramphi were not in reality the 

 young of Belone. 



The Young. Couch's magnified figure of the blunt- 

 headed half-beak, the specimen having been half an inch 

 in length, shows the fish in the earlier stage, when the 

 lower jaw is commencing to increase in length ; while his 

 European half-beak, at a little over 34- inches in length, 

 demonstrates the fish with the lower jaw having increased, 

 but the upper jaw still almost stationary. In Liitken's 

 ' Spolia Atlantica/ p. 567, will be found a complete series 

 of illustrations, showing the various stages of evolution 

 of the jaws as they become developed with age. 



Steindachner (Sitz. Ak. Wiss. Wien, 1868, Ivii., p. 732) 

 remarked upon the identity of Belone acus, Risso, with B. 

 vulgaris, the distinction between the two forms resting 

 principally upon the latter possessing a small ovoid patch of 

 vomerine teeth, which is said to be absent in the latter It 

 is remarkable that the finest example in the British 

 Museum from the British shores is destitute of this patch of 

 teeth, although it is present in others. Canestrini, I.e., 

 observed upon finding vomerine teeth in an Adriatic 

 example. 



Habits. Gregarious, migratory, and very voracious, fre- 

 quently approaching the shore in large assemblages, and 



