30 PERCID.E. 



The Striped Red Mullet spawns in the spring, and the 

 young are five inches long by the end of October. The 

 food appears to be selected from among the softer crus- 

 taceous and molluscous animals. In connexion with their 

 food and the search made for it, the long cirri articulated to 

 the under jaw require to be noticed. These cirri are ge- 

 nerally placed near the mouth, and they are mostly found in 

 those fishes that are known to feed very near the bottom. 

 On dissecting these appendages in the Mullet, the common 

 Cod, and others, I found them to consist of an elongated and 

 slender flexible cartilage, invested by numerous longitudi- 

 nal muscular and nervous fibres, and covered by an extension 

 of the common skin. The muscular apparatus is most 

 apparent in the Mullet, the nervous portion most con- 

 spicuous in the Cod. These appendages are to them, 

 I have no doubt, delicate organs of touch, by which all 

 the species provided with them are enabled to ascertain, 

 to a certain extent, the qualities of the various substances 

 with which they are brought in contact, and are analogous 

 in function to the beak, with its distribution of nerves, among 

 certain wading and swimming birds which probe for food 

 beyond their sight ; and may be considered another instance, 

 among the many beautiful provisions of Nature, by which, 

 in the case of fishes feeding at great depths, where light is 

 deficient, compensation is made for consequent imperfect 

 vision. 



D. 7—1+8 : P. 17 : V. 1+5 : A. 2 + 6 : C. 13. 



The forehead, nape, cheek, and operculum are covered 

 with scales ; irides pale yellow ; mucous pores abundant ; the 

 teeth and the colours of the body have been already noticed ; 



