LESSER FORKED BEARD. 205 



siiecies, and previously known only as an inhabitant of the 

 shores of Cornwall, I had the pleasure of exhibiting to you 

 a living specimen, which had been captured in Berwick Bay. 

 When alive, and when recently dead, the body appeared 

 everywhere smooth and even ; but after having lain three 

 days on a plate and become a little shrivelled, there ap- 

 peared an obscure row of tubercles, running backwards from 

 the pectoral fins, — and these pea-like tubercles could be more 

 readily distinguished by drawing the finger over the skin. 

 I would call attention to this fact, because the only good 

 distinction between the Raniceps trifurcatus and R. Jago 

 of Dr. Fleming is derived from the presence of these tuber- 

 cles ; in the former, the lateral line is said to be tubercu- 

 lated above the pectoral fins, in the latter it is said to be 

 smooth : but here we have a specimen which when alive 

 exhibits the character of Jago, — when dead, that of the tri- 

 furcatus ; and hence I am induced to think that both are 

 the same animal, having the tubercles more or less promi- 

 nent and obvious according to the leanness or other condi- 

 tions of the body." 



The difficulty of deciding the point without possessing 

 a specimen, which the rarity of the fish rendered almost 

 hopeless, probably induced Dr. Fleming to follow Pennant 

 in giving both names a place in his History of British 

 Animals. The description of Mr. Couch is quoted by 

 Dr. Fleming as belonging to the Cornish fish and the Lesser 

 Forked Beard of Jago ; and Cuvier, in a note at the foot 

 of page 836 of the second volume of the Regne Animal, 

 quotes the Gadus trifurcatus of Pennant as belonging to 

 his genus Raniceps. 



The advantages of equal communication and assistance on 

 this point from Mr. Couch and Dr. Johnston enable me 

 to carry the comparison of the two fishes still further. 



