86 



the Maderan fish was formerly by me, to Risso's species. It differs 

 chiefly in the elevation of the three first rays of the dor.sal fin, the 

 spot on which is small, not large ; in the deep blackness of the 

 caudal fin and hinder part of the tail or body ; and, lastly, in being of 

 considerably larger size (8-10 inches in length) than the true Medi- 

 terranean J, speciosa, Riss. Not having met at present with any 

 other fishes in Madeira which agree so nearly as /. melanura with 

 that species, I cannot help suspecting that in M. Valenciennes' P4a- 

 deran specimens of his /. speciosa may exist the principal peculiari- 

 ties which he has expressly noted in Mr. Webb's Canarian example, 

 and which are precisely those of Julis melanura. 



AcANTHOLABRUS iMBRicATUs. A. pinna dorsali analique bast squa- 

 mosis; squamis subquaternis , bractearum modo imbricalis, inter 

 spinas assurgentibus : dorsalis parte spinosa postice unimaculato : 

 Cauda utrinque bimaculata : squamis magnis. 



D. 20 + 9 ; A. 5 + 8 ; P. 15 ; V. 1 + 5 ; C. ^ + III ; M. B. 5. 



o V. 4 



Fam. FiSTULARIDiE. 



Centriscus gracilis. C. corpore gracili, angusto, elliptico-oblongo, 

 supra fusco, lateribus argenteis : rosiro producto, elongato : 

 pinna prima dorsnlis, inter oculos pinnamque caudalem media, 

 spina secunda mediocri, breviore, pinnam caudalem nequaquam at- 

 tingente. 



1'"^ D. 4 V. 5 ; 2d'» D. 11 ; A. 17 ; V. 1 + 4 ; P. 15 ; C. f~^. 



Rarior. 



In its shape and colour this is very obviously different from the 

 common red Snipefish (C. Scolopax, L.). But I have not been able 

 to assure myself that the above differences are not sexual. They are 

 not certainly dependent upon size. The depth averages from one- 

 fifth to one-sixth and a half of the whole length, instead of one- 

 fourth of the same. In two individuals of the same length within 

 one quarter of an inch, the depth of the larger (C. Scolopax, L.) was 

 very nearly double that of the smaller (C. gracilis, nob.) and the 2nd 

 spine of the 1st dorsal fin was respectively in each one-fourth and 

 one-seventh of the whole length of the fish. 



Fafti. EsociD^. 



Belone gracilis, nob. — " Catuta." 



Early in March last year (1838) a fisherman brought alive in sea- 

 water two fishes, which, in their slenderness, and the upper jaw being 

 only half the length of the lower, differed obviously from the com- 

 mon B. vulgaris. Measuring, however, seven or eight inches only 

 in length, it seemed questionable, in the absence of equal-sized in- 

 dividuals of B. vulgaris for comparison , whether they might not be 

 the young of that species. My friends, however, the Rev. L. Jenyns 

 and Mr. Yarrell, have examined these two individuals, and the latter 

 warrants me in stating, on their joint authority, that these two fishes 



