f 
298 ; Storer on the 
The Ventrals arise back of the pectorals, and are . 
two lines shorter than those fins. ; 
The Anal fin commences on a line with the fifth 
ray of the second dorsal: the height and length of 
this fin are equal. 
The Anal and Dorsal fins terminate on the same 
plane. 
The fin rays are as follows: D. 9. 1-12; P. 15; 
V. 1-5; A.3-9; C. 17. 
CENTROPRISTIS. Cuv. 
Generic characters. A single dorsal fin: bran- 
chiostegous rays 7: all the teeth small and crowded: 
‘no canini : preoperculum dentated, and operculum 
spinous. 
C. nigricans, Cuv. The Black Perch. 
Trans. Lit. et Philosoph. Soc. N. Y. p. 415, et fig. 
Me Murtrie’s Cuv. v. ii. p. 107. 
Cuv. et Valenc. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. iii. p. 14. 
I have never heard of this species, the Perca 
varia of Mitchell, having been taken north of Cape. 
Cod. The only specimen met with, Dr. Yale kindly 
sent me from Holmes Hole, where it is called black 
fish and black basse: he informs me that it has 
been taken there in great numbers in May, June 
and July, and carried to the New York market— 
and adds, “ it is perhaps the most delicious fish that 
is caught.” 
The body of the specimen before me is elon- 
