CEPOLA. 197 



Division III. — Ihoracic TiJIh 



Section VI. 



GENtJS XXVI — Ccpolu 



°We are now coitie to that divifion of the fpinous tribes 

 termed by naturalifts the thoracic, from the pofition 

 of thfeir ventral fins, which are neither placed before the 

 pedoral, nor behind them, but dirc£lly under them up*, 

 on the thorax f . The firft genus of this clafs, Linnaeus 

 terms the cepola^ in the latter editions of his Syftem of 

 Nature, fromafifh of that name caught in the Mediterra- 

 nean, This animal has an extremely flender and tapering 

 ihape ; the body being twelve inches in length, and fcarce- 

 \^ one in thicknefs : It is of a flefli colour, and femi- 

 tranfparent, fo that the vertebras of the back appear, and 

 can eafily be numbered. 



The cepola has no fcales : the lides are adorned with a 

 lineal row of filvery fj^ols. The perioral fins are (aifill, 

 and their rays fo ilsnder, that they are almofl impercep- 

 tible. About an inch behind the head, nfes the dovfai 

 fin, which is produced till it joins the tail, where it meets 

 the anal fin, which is about thrice as broad ; and begins 



fo 



♦ Toenia prima, Rond. Cepola tocuia, Lin. Syft, 

 t Vide Syftema Nat. Ij6. 



