FOSSIL FISH. 413 



S. chloris. This, again, is a species of Scomber, which 

 may, perhaps, have some relations with chloris, as the body- 

 is short, and very much raised ; as there are three spinous rays 

 in front of the anal fin, and as the dorsal fins seem united ; 

 but the lower jaw is indubitably shorter than the upper, exactly 

 the reverse of what takes place in the true chloris, which, 

 moreover, belongs to the African seas. 



Scomber orcynus. The general form and assemblage of the 

 parts indicate a Scomber, and very probably the Scomber 

 orcynus of Rondelet, inasmuch as there is a single dorsal fin 

 rather short, but elevated ; an anal almost correspondent to it, 

 and eight spinous rays both above and below. This species is 

 found in the Mediterranean, and Linnaeus has confounded it 

 with the tunny. 



We may observe, in general, that the number of species of 

 this genus. Scomber, is much more considerable in the Medi- 

 terranean than was believed at the time when the Veronese 

 Ichthyolithology was published. This we find from the works 

 of MM. Risso and Rafinesque, who have discovered species 

 there very much approaching to many hitherto supposed to 

 exist only in the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean. So much is 

 this the case, that there is scarcely any reason to doubt that 

 all the fossil species of Monte Bolca, which are very numerous, 

 are to be found in the Mediterranean. 



Perca (Perch). P. formosa, Linn. P. Americana, Icht, 

 Ver. This fossil skeleton, in which no traces of ventral fins 

 are visible, has certainly some relation with the general forms 

 of the perch, in the size of the head and mouth. There is 

 but a single dorsal fin, situated in the middle of the back, as 

 in Perca formosa. But the anal fin is much longer and nearer 

 to the tail ; and this, with other differences, takes away all cer- 

 tainty respecting the species, and even respecting the genus. 



SciiENA. Of this genus the impression referred to Scicena 

 jaculatrix, by the author of the Veronese Ichthyolithology, has 

 no relation whatever to that species, and is, moreover, ex- 



