26. 



SCOMBER HEBERI. 



Order, Thoracic. 



Native Na??ie, if&s^sn^ Gtrnm *n ^f® 6*^ 



Rat or Goroo- 

 Parawah. 



S. heberi. Body smooth and silvery, shot with gold ; a tinge of grey 

 (probably caused by the removal of the silver by the hands of the fisherman,) 

 graduated from the back to the lateral line, which is much curved above the 

 pectoral fin, and thence passes in a straight line, strongly serrated, to the 

 centre of the caudal fin. Pectoral fin elongated and curved ; dorsal fin 

 divided in two, with spines of various lengths ; two spines detached in front 

 of the anal fin, the extremity of the upper division nearly black. Head large ; 

 shoulders high ; eye full and prominent. Fins different tinges of yellow. 



Br anchiostegous rays 7. First Dorsal Fin, 8 spines; Seco?id Dorsal, 21, 

 one spinous. Pectoral 18. Ventral 5. Anal 17, one spinous : two spines 

 preceding. Caudal 22. , 



The Rat or Goroo-Parawah of the Cingalese is found in deep 

 water, and is in general estimation. It has been known to exceed 

 two feet in length. 



This fish is classically named as a tribute of respect to the memory 

 of departed worth and excellence in the late Right Rev. Bishop 

 Heber; who having an opportunity of comparing the MSS. with the 

 fishes themselves, on his Lordship's visit to Point deGalle, in Ceylon, 

 in 1805, honored it with his immediate patronage, and subsequently 

 recommended it to his friends on the Indian Continent ; where he, 

 alas ! too soon for humanity's sake, exchanged a career of every 

 earthly good for the sublimer sphere of eternal felicity. 



M 



