GARFISH. 



149 



action not common to many fishes. The simplicity of this 

 structure for grasping is equal to its effectiveness. 



The bones of this fish are of a light green colour, which 

 some naturalists have supposed to be produced by the action 

 of boiling in water. But it is the same when the fish is alive, 

 as it is also in the European Hemiramphus, and, as Mr. 

 Owen informs us, in the Lepidosiren. It in reality resides in 

 some minute channels that pass through the bones for the purpose 

 of nourishing them. Professor Owen further remarks that this 

 is the only known fish in which a cup and ball joint is found 

 at the ribs; all other fishes having two cups, which meet at 

 their rims, with fluid interposed between them. 



I have met with a curious irregularity in the formation of 

 the lobes of roe, which were of no more than half the usual 

 length, but four in number instead of two; and one of them 

 at least had no communication with the common outlet, but 

 seemed to communicate with the entrail. 



