S04 GADID^. 



SUBBRACHIAL 



MALACOPTERYGII. GADID^.. 



THE LESSER FORKED BEARD. 



TRIFURCATED HAKE. TADPOLE FISH. 



Raniceps trifurcatus, Trifurcated Hake, Flem. Brit. An. p. 194, sp. 88. 

 ,, Jago, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 89. 



,, ,, CuviER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 336. 



Barbus minor, Lesser Forked Beard, Ray, Syn. p. 164, sp. 8, fig. 8. 



,, ,, Forked Hake, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 261. 



Batrachoides trifurcatus, Trifurcated Tadpole Fish, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. 



p. 272, pi. 38. 



Generic Characters. — Head depressed, body compressed ; two dorsal fins, 

 the first very small ; the second dorsal and the anal fins elongated ; ventral fins 

 small, the first two rays lengthened and separated. 



Dr. George Johnston, of Berwick, in his address to 

 the members of the Berwickshire Naturalist's Club, read at 

 the first anniversary meeting in September 1832,* when 

 referring to the various species of fishes which had occurred 

 to him during the previous twelvemonths, remarks at page 7 : 

 " Of the Tadpole Fish, which is one of the rarest British 



* See also Mr. Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. vi. page 11. 



