158 ADDITIONS TO THE FAUNA OF CORNWALL. 



fish he makes the absence of a lateral line to be a character of the 

 genus, with the vent situated under the pectoral fin, and having 

 on its anterior border a valve to cover it. His specimen was ob- 

 tained in the middle of June, in the year 1808, near Solanto, in 

 Sicily ; and in describing it he especially notices the absence of 

 teeth and the limited extent of the mouth ; the branchial rays 

 four ; rays of the dorsal and anal fins fovirteen, of the pectoral 

 twelve, in which probably he did not count such as were of small 

 size, or they might have been lost. And he adds that it was 

 called by the people " Luvaru Imperiale," from the resemblance of 

 colour in some particu.lars to that of the fish Luvaro, which is the 

 local name of the Spctrus pagellus ; but whether this name was im- 

 posed on it at the moment or from long usage he does not say. 



Dr. Gulia, in his enumeration of the fish of his native island, 

 Malta, says nothing of this species, except in a MS. note written in 

 a copy of the work kindly presented to me by himself (Tentamen 

 Ichthyologise Melitensis) ; but in another work (Repertorio di 

 Storia Naturale, 1864) he mentions it on the authority of Professor 

 Terafa, who appears to have seen even more than one example in 

 that island. 



But it is to Nardo, in his Inaugural Thesis, that we are in- 

 debted for a more extended account of tliis fish, as well of its 

 external as of its internal structure, together with a figure, which, 

 if not in the best style of art, is sufliciently exact to assure us of 

 the form of the species. It appears, however, to have been drawn 

 after the specimen had passed under the hands of the preserving 

 artist ; but in referring to his description I shall notice only those 

 prominent particulars which throw some light on my own descrip- 

 tion and observations. It was in September 1826 that his examj)le 

 was caught, by some boys with their hands as it Avandered among 

 some rocks close to the shore in the harbour of Palestrma ; and at 

 the time when he wrote, it was preserved in a private museum at 

 that place. As it was entirely unknown (as far as he could learn) 

 to all naturalists, he assigned to it the generic and sj^ecific name 

 of Prodostegus, from Greek words Avhich are expressive of the re- 

 markable valve that covers and conceals the vent — a character 

 which seems to be singular in this family of fishes. It was ob- 

 served that this valve or covering was raised or let down by a 

 voluntary action of the fish. The shaj)e of the fish he compares 



