810 



MUGILID.E. 



ACANTHOPTERYGIL MUGILIDsE. 



THE SHORT GREY MULLET. 



Mugil curtus, YARRELL. 



HITHERTO but one species of Grey Mullet has been 

 described and figured as belonging to the British coast ; 

 but this is probably owing to the want of close comparative 

 examination of specimens from different localities. Cuvier, 

 in the Regne Animal, says the European Mullets have 

 not been well determined ; and from the general distribu- 

 tion* of the species of this genus, it is not unlikely that 

 more than those at present known may yet be made out. 

 The Prince of Musignano, as before mentioned, has de- 

 scribed and figured five species belonging to the Mediterra- 

 nean ; but the Small Grey Mullet of the present article 

 appears to be as yet unknown, at least as far as I have been 

 able to ascertain by existing descriptions. Its principal 

 distinction, as a species, is in the extreme shortness of 

 the body, which has induced me to adopt for it the specific 

 term curtus. 



* Species belonging to the genus Mugil of authors have been found more or 

 less plentiful at the Cape de Verd Islands, Caspian Sea, Japan, New South 

 Wales, Sandwich Islands, and in the Bay of Mexico, besides the other localities 

 that have been previously named. 



