124 NEW SPECIES 01 IISH 



Observations on several genera and species of fish, 

 belonging to the natural family of the Esoces. By 

 C. A. Lesueur. 



On the Genus Belona of Cuvier. 



My observations on this genus incline me to be 

 lieve, that the Esox Belona, described by Dr Mit- 

 chell, is not, as he supposed, the same with that of 

 Europe. The drawings of several species which I 

 have made in the West Indies and the United States 

 gave rise to this doubt, to all of which is alike ap- 

 plicable the short description given us by the Doctor, 

 and it can therefore be merely regarded as a notice 

 of the existence of one of these species in the northern 

 atlantic, and on the coasts of the United States. 



Mr. Cuvier observes, that the species of this ge- 

 nus are not yet well distinguished,! that they re- 

 semble each other so much, and present at the first 

 view so little difference, that they all might apparent- 

 ly be embraced in the same description ; that those 

 who had observed them had been deceived by neg- 

 lecting to obtain drawings, by which it would have 

 been easy to observe their differences in a manner 

 more sensible and more exact. It is from descrip- 

 tions, and the comparisons of four different drawings 

 from nature, made in different places, that I now con- 

 sider myself authorized to distinguish three new spe- 



t Regne Animal, Vol. II. p. 186. 



