14 



1839 Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, par M. le B on Cuvier, . . . ; et par M. Valen- 

 ciennes, . . . Tome quatorzieme. A Paris, chez Pitois-Levrault et C e , . . . , ' 

 1839. [8 ed. xxii, 464 pp., 3 i. ; 4 cd. xx, 344 pp., 3 L pi. 389-420.] 



Suite du livro seizierne. Labro'ides. 



Livre dix-septieme. Des Malacopt6rygiens. Des Siluro'ides. 



[No west-coast species noticed.] 



The Zoology of Captain Beechey's Voyage; compiled from the collections and 

 notes made by Captain Beechey, the officers and naturalist of the Expe- 

 dition, during a Voyage to the Pacific^and Behring's straits performed in 

 his Majesty's Ship Blossom, under the command of Captain F. W. Beechey, 

 R. N., F. B. S., &c., &c. in the years 1825, 26, 27, and 28. By J. Richardson, 

 M. D., F. R. S., &c. ; N. A. Vigors, Esq., A. M., F. R. S., &c. ; G. T. Lay, Esq. ; 

 E.T. Bennett, Esq., F. L. S., &c.; the Rev. W. Buckland, D. D., F. R. S., 

 F.L. S.,F.G. 8.,&c. and G. B. Sowerby, Esq. Illustrated with upwards of 

 fifty finely coloured plates, by Sowerby. Published under the authority of 

 the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. London : Henry G. Bohn, 4, 

 York Street, Co vent Garden. MDCCCXXXIX. 



Fishes; by G. T. Lay, Esq., and E. T. Bennett, Esq., F. L. S., &c. pp. 

 41-75, pi. 15-23. , 



[N. sp. Chimcera colliei (p. 71, pi. 2.1). 



This- volume is interesting as being the first publication in which any attempt has been 

 made to scientifically indicate the fishes of the coast. The " naturalist " of the expedition 

 was, however, incompetent for the task, and the notes taken evince that he was not 

 sufiiciently versed in the rudiments of ichthyology to know what to observe. Neverthe- 

 less, the notes have an interest, if not of importance, enough to transcribe what relates 

 to the regions in question : 



"Off Saint Lawrence Island wa? caught, in the dredge a fish apparently allied to the 

 genus Liparis, Art. It had the 'ventral fins placed before the pectorals, but united and 

 continuous with them; aflat, raised, and rough tubercle, of nearly the diameter of an 

 English sixpence, was seated forward between the pectorals, its anterior part reaching as 

 far as the ventrals; this may be of use in copulation : its cceca were pretty numerous.' C. 

 The roughness of this tubercle renders it difficult to refer the fish to any known species; 

 but it is probably nearly related to the Cydopterus gelatinoxus, Pall., a Liparia which is 

 known to inhabit the seas in which this was obtained. The existence of cceca removes it 

 from Lepadogaster, Gouau. * 



"Kotzebue Sound afforded a specimen of a new species of Ophidiiim, L., the Oph. stigma. 



" On the coast of California, a little to the northwards of the harbour of San Francisco, 

 an Orthagoriscus was met with, apparently the Orth. mola., Bl. They swum about the 

 ship with the dorsal fiu frequently elevated above the surface." (p. 50.) 



"On the coast of California, at Monterey, Mr. Collie's notes mention the occurrence of 

 [1] a species of Spams, of two Scombri, and of a Clupea. [2] The first of the Scornbridce is 

 apparently a Scomber, Cuv. ; it was 'smaller than the mackerel; it was marked on the 

 back with cross waved narrow bauds of black and greenish blue: its first dorsal fin had 

 nine spines, and there were four small pinnules behind the second dorsal and the anal: it 

 had a simple air-bladder of moderate size, and an immense number of cceca, with a stomach 

 extending the whole length of the abdomen, narrow, taparing to the posterior part, and 

 covered throughout nearly its whole length with the milt. 1 Its internakmembraue forms 

 longitudinal folds; the intestines have three convolutions.' C. This fish occurred in 

 shoals. [3j The second species was met with but once. It is a Caranx, Cuv., of which 

 ' the teeth in the upper maxillary are scarcely to be felt : the pectorals reach nearly to op- 

 posite the anus: a double narrow stripe of deeper blue than the general surface runs back- 

 % wards on each side of the first dorsal fin to opposite its termination the two parts being 

 separated by a broad line of dirty white, which hat* a narrow, dark-coloured line along its 

 middle: there are no distinct divisions in the anal and second dorsal fins: the air-bladder 

 is simple, and small, and extends from the faucet to the anus; the stomach is much shorter 

 than in the preceding species; the caeca, although numerous, are less so than in it, and the 

 intestine is folded in the same manner.' C. From the nature of the colouring of this fish, 

 as described by Mr. Collie, there can be little doubt of its constituting a distinct species. 



