



No. 1. Length 11| inches ; D. 



102; 



A. 89; V. 6. 







2. -^ 14i — 



102 



88 G 







3. — 14| — 



108 



92 6 







4. — ]3i — 



110 



100 6 







5. — 13' — 



102 



86 6 







6. — 12 — 



106 



91 6 



1. 



P. 12 



on upper, 10 on under side ; 



C. 19 i 



1 la Cuv., or 23 



2. 



12 



— 10 — 



19 



— 23 



3. 



11 



on each side ; 



19 



— 23 



4. 



11 



— 



19 



— 25 



5. 



12 



on upper, 10 on under side ; 



19 



— 23 



6. 



11 



10 — 



19 



— 22 



198 MALACOPTERYGII. 



in their fins, especially in the anal, that it seems to me desirable to be noticed 

 at full length. 



No. 



" Branchiostegous membrane in each specimen consisting of five rays ; in each 

 likewise a short strong bony spine, directed forwards before the anal fin, but 

 which cannot be called a spinous ray : in some individuals the skin covers it, in 

 others the point is exposed. 



"With the short specific characters in the Manual of British Vertebrate 

 Animals these individuals agree, with one exception, that of the lateral line not 

 being ' straight throughout its course,' although it is nearly so ; — from the origin 

 it slopes gently over the pectoral fin, and thence to the tail is straight. They 

 correspond in every detail with the general description in the same work, except 

 in the following particulars, in which the specimens exhibit considerable differ- 

 ence. Mr. Jenyns remarks, ' greatest elevation of the [dorsal] fin contained 

 five times and a half in the breadth of the body,' p. 459 ; in some of these it is 

 contained but 3i, in others 4 and 4^ times, and this is not owing to difterence of 

 size in individuals ; in the female specimen, which is of the largest size, the dor- 

 sal fin is rather lower compared with breadth of body than in the others. In 

 the individual examined by Mr. Jenyns, the ventral fins are described to have 

 equalled the pectorals in length, but in all these the latter are considerably longer, 

 in some being one-third, in others one-fourth longer than the ventrals. With 

 Mr. Yarrell's description they generally agree. 



" The colour of the upper side of these six specimens is one uniform tint, 

 intermediate between the ' yellowish bro^^^l ' and ' wood brown ' of Syme's 

 ' Nomenclature of Colours.' The fins are all merely of a darker shade, owing to 

 the membrane being minutely spotted with a deeper bro^\^l ; the hinder portion 

 of the upper half of the P. fin is black, thus resembling this fin in all the British 

 species of sole ; ' the edges of all the fins darker than the rest,' as described by 

 Mr. Yarrell; the underside of the three larger is pure white, of the three smaller 

 white also, but closely dotted over with extremely minute black spots, which, 

 without close examination, give to this portion the appearance of soiled white ; 

 pupil purplish black ; irides silvery, in some of them tinged with gold. 



" On dissection, five of these individuals exhibited milt, and one of them roe ; 

 the ova of a very small size, and the milt not much developed. Excepting the 

 stomach of one, which was empty, they all contained a few fragments of Solen 

 pellucicbcs or minutus ; in addition to this shell, three of them exhibited the 

 remains of Ophiuree ; one, besides the i>olen and Ophiurec, presented some 

 Crustacea ; and another, in addition to the Solen, the remains of marine worms, 

 apparently Planarice, 



" On May 5, 1837, I obtained a seventh specimen of P. Pola, which, like the 

 others, was taken by trawling, at Ardglass. It was 12^ inches long, and exhi- 

 bited milt moderately developed. Its stomach contained fragments of Soleu 

 pellucidus, and a specimen of Bulla lignaria." — Annals Nat. Hist. vol. ii. 



March 2-5, 1839.— A small creel-full of these fishes was brought to Bel- 

 fast market from Newcastle (Down), near to which place they were 

 taken by trawlino-. There were about 120 of them, and -with them were 

 a Phnironcctcs Mctpistoyna, a Platcssa mlrrocephnla, both full grown, and 



