FAMILY SCOMBRIDJS — LAMPUGUS. 135 



Similar but smaller ones on the vomer and palatines, and exceedingly minute ones on the 

 tongue. Seven branchial rays. 



The dorsal fin long and subequal, composed of fifty-three rays, the posterior third in a slight 

 furrow. It commences on the nape, just posterior to the orbits, and reaches to within half an 

 inch of the base of the caudal fin ; the ten or twelve last rays rise somewhat higher than the 

 five or six preceding ones, and pass slightly beyond the membrane. The membranous slips 

 on the tips of the rays, when the fin is supine, resemble the finlets or spurious fins on the 

 mackerel. The pectoral fins small, triangular, falcate, and placed beneath the ninth dorsal 

 ray ; its longest ray is two inches in length. The ventral fins are long and pointed, with the 

 third and longest ray two and a half inches. The anal fin long and low, subequal, its middle 

 rays shorter ; it commences below a point nearly equidistant between the posterior margin of 

 the orbits, and the base of the caudal : it contains twenty-five rays. Caudal fin deeply fur- 

 cate ; the lobes three and a half inches long, with four accessory rays on each side. 



Color. Sea-green above the lateral line ; silvery on the sides, with metallic reflections on 

 the opercles. Pupil black ; irides yellowish. Dark reddish brown stripes across the head ; a 

 series of distant rounded spots along the base of the dorsal fin ; a few scattering ones on the 

 back part of the head, and confused series of similar spots on the sides below the lateral line. 

 Dorsal, pectorals and ventral brown ; anal and caudal fins light-colored. 



Length, 24-0. Of the head, 3-2. Height, 3-0. 

 Fin rays, D. 53 ; P. 20 ; V. 5 ; A. 25 ; C. 18 |. 



This rare and exceedingly beautiful fish was taken several years since by Capt. Barnard, 

 who caught it with a hook, at the light-ship off the harbor of New-York. It was presented 

 to the Lyceum in a fresh state. From notes taken at the time, I am enabled to give the colors. 

 I suppose it to be identical with the punctulatus of Cuvier and Valenciennes, notwithstanding 

 slight discrepancies in the descriptions. Those writers had only a small cabinet specimen, 

 thirteen or fourteen inches long, and their description is very succinct. 



The Spotted Lampugus is a tropical species, and its farthest northern range hitherto dis- 

 covered is the latitude of New-York. 



