Fishes of Massachusetts. 393 
be relied upon. Richardson also remarks, that the 
“F. serrata frequents the West Indies and the sea 
of Brazil Cuvier, in the notes to his “Regne 
Animal," refers to Catesby's plates for a figure of 
this species; he could not infer, from this figure, 
that the species was the “serrata,” unless he had 
also received a specimen of the fish, and concluded 
it was the only Fistularia found upon the coast 
of the United States. Catesby’s figure is repre- 
sented with two dorsal fins. 
The specimen before me was sent several years 
since to this city by Dr. Yale, who procured it at 
Holmes Hole. It is still in a state of fine preserva- 
tion, and belongs to the cabinet of the **Boston Soci- 
ety of Natural History." It has not the spots upon 
its sides which are possessed by the tabaccaria ; nor 
does it agree with the figures of that species in 
Rees’ Encyclopedia; Sonnini's Buffon; Strack’s 
Plates; or Shaw’s Zoology: but in the fifth volume 
of Shaw’s Zoology, the author observes, *a variety 
has been described by Dr. Bloch, in which this part” 
(referring to the tail)“ was double, and the snout 
serrated.” A figure of the tail of this variety, as he 
calls it, is also represented by Shaw. "This is un- 
doubtedly our fish ; and, although I have no means 
of ascertaining sk the “ serrata” is, having 
neither Bloch nor any other work on ichthyo- 
logy, which speaks of it, yet, looking at its serra- 
ted int maxillaries, and lateral line, I have no doubt 
that the species before me is that fish. Dr. Yale 
writes me it is not often found. 
My specimen is ten inches in length. Upper 
VOL. IIL.— NO. II—IV. 
