208 



BEARDLESS OPHIDIUM. Class IV. 



GENUS XIX. OPHIDIUM. 



Head rather naked. 



Teeth in the jaws, palate, and throat. 



Gills, aperture of, large. 



Body ensiform. 



1. Beard- 

 less. 



Descrip- 

 tion. 



Ophidiutn imberbe. Oph. max- 

 illis imberbibus cauda obtu- 

 siuscula. Gm. Lin. 1147. 



Faun. Suec. 319- 



Ophidium cirris carens. Arted. 

 Syn. pise. 42. 



Ophidium alteram flavum et 

 imberbe. Rati Syn. pise. 

 39. Wil. ichth. 113. 



Br. Zool. App. iii. 398. 

 Shaw Gen. Zool. iv. part i. p. 



70. 

 L'Ophidie imberbe. De la 



Cepede Hist, des Poissons, 



ii. 281. 

 Montagu in Mem. Wern. Soc. 



95. tab. 4. /. 2. 



[THE Beardless Ophidium was first added to 

 the catalogue of British fishes, by Mr. Pen- 

 nant, to whom it was communicated by the 

 Dutchess of Portland ; the specimen was found 

 near Weymouth, and a figure of it given in the 

 Appendix to the Zoology, unaccompanied by 

 any description. 



Mr. Montagu thus describes one of this rare 

 species, which was taken on the southern coast 

 of Devonshire. 



Its length was about three inches ; its depth 

 did not exceed a quarter of an inch. The pec- 



