Remarks on the Natural History of Fishes. 347 



the jaws were open, it could receive a morsel as large as a man's 

 head." What excuse then can be offered for his illustrating this 

 species with the plate of a distinct fish — a foreign species — be- 

 longing to another genus, which grows only to the length of ten 

 or twelve inches ! the " Chironectes hisirio.^' Such negligence 

 cannot be overlooked ; we 'have the '' piscatorius^' in our waters ; 

 or had the author preferred, as he ever seemed to have done, to 

 copy from figures rather than from nature, he could have found 

 a plate of it in any work on Ichthyology. 



I have no doubt that Cuvier is correct in considering the 

 " Scomber grex''' and " vernalis" as the same species. 



Neither the '^ chrysos^^ nor the " plum,beus'^ do I know. 



Eight pages are occupied with the " Scomber scomber^' — ^'Euro- 

 pean Mackerel ]" it is not found on our coast. 



Respecting the " Surmullet,''^ I would only introduce a single 

 remark of Dr. Richardson. " Blullus, in its geographical distri- 

 bution, is confined to the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and Euro- 

 pean Atlantic, including the Baltic." 



Upon page 307, we are told that " the spinous fins (of the 

 Tunny) have a yellowish tinge ;" as the jinlets are the only por- 

 tions of the fish, which are yellow, they are probably intended. 



The " Centronotus ductor^' — ''pilot fish," may possibly be found 

 within the waters of Massachusetts, although I have never been 

 able to procure one. 



The " Zeus faber" — common dory, I have never seen, nor 

 heard of as being found in our waters. 



Although we are told in the volume before us, that the " Chry- 

 sotosus luna" — (" Lampris guttatus,") "has been taken within 

 a day's sail of Boston ;" and Richardson in his "Fauna Boreali 

 Americana''^ accordingly observes under the head of this fish, that 

 " Dr. Smith enumerates it among the fish of Massachusetts ;" 

 I have never been able to learn any thing regarding it, from any 

 of the fishermen, and therefore, although as it is a northern 

 species, further investigation may establish its existence in our 

 waters, I should be unwilling to consider the point as proved 

 from the notice here referred to. 



Dr. Smith, tells us tvjo species of " Sword fish" have been 

 discovered : Cuvier knew but one. 



The " Seserinus alepidotus" is here catalogued in the family 

 " Sq,uamipenes," instead of the " Scomberoides," as it should have 



