330 ftAYAN GILT-HEAD. Class IV. 



3. Rayah. Brama marina cauda forcipata. Blochichth. viii. 75. tab. 273. 



D. Jonston, Rati Syn. pise. Duhamel Tr. des Peches, iii. 



115. 26. tab. b.f. 1. 



Lin. Tr. vii. 292. De la Cepede Hist, des Pois- 



Sparus niger. Turt. Lin. i. sons, iv. 111. 



789. Toothed Gilt-head. Br. Z00L 



Sparus Raii, La Castagnole. 4to. iii. 213. 



JL HIS species was communicated to Mr. Ray 

 by his friend Mr. Jonston, a Yorkshire gentler 

 man, who informed him it was found on the 

 sands near the mouth of the Tees, * Sept. 1 8, 

 1681.* 

 Descrip- It was a deep fish, formed like a roach, twenty- 

 six inches long, ten broad, and grew very slender 

 towards the tail. The eyes were large, like 

 those of quadrupeds ; in the lower jaw were 

 two rows of teeth, slender and sharp as needles ; 

 and on each side a slender canine tooth ; in the 

 upper only a single row of teeth; the aperture 

 of the gills very large ; the body scaly ; in the 

 middle of the back was one fin extending almost 



* There is no instance on record of this rare fish having been 

 seen on the British coast from the above period, till the year 

 1799* when one was left by the tide in the inlet that runs up to 

 Kingsbridge on the south coast of Devonshire, and fortunately 

 fell into the hands of Mr. Montagu. The length of this speci- 

 men was sixteen inches, the depth five, the breadth of the back 

 not above two. Mr. Neill states, that several have been taken of 

 late years in the Frith of Forth. Ed. 



tion. 



