ICHTHYOLOGY. 



tows-STROMATEUS. SpmVs-STROMATEUS 

 DEPRESSUS. 



Generic Character— Body oval shaped, flat arid compressed, 

 the eyes placed one on each side, one dorsal and 

 one abdominal fin each of them commencing at 

 the swell of the body, one lateral fin on each side 

 near the gills, the tail divided acutely radiated. 



TO the labours of the great Linn^us and Artedi, 

 we are indebted for the most perfect investigation of the 

 genera of Fishes, who have proposed the fins as an admi- 

 rable characteristic by which to distinguish their form and 

 mutual analogies. We shall therefore consider the other 

 parts of each description as subordinate to the above, and 

 regard the number and arrangement of the fins as a perfect 

 and natural rule for finding the genus of every kind of Fish 

 hitherto discovered in Nature. Of the genus Stromateus 

 which we are about to describe, only four species are men- 

 tioned by Bloch, viz. the Fiatola, Cinereus, Argenteus, 

 and Niger ; the present one being entirely new and accu- 

 rately drawn from a fine specimen in the collection of Mr. 

 "Willsher, of Chelsea, we have denominated the Depressus 

 from the circumstance of the singular depression of the nose, 

 and which is not observable in the others. This Fish when 

 fully grown, is supposed to be five inches long, and the 

 physiognomy of its features and character are whimsical and 

 entertaining. The lower jaw projects a little farther than 

 the upper, the top of the head has a plate and several spines, 

 and which are slightly united to the back fin, the eye is 

 large and flat and placed on each side, the tail is divided 

 into a two-fold fan, the junction being very narrow and 

 *hort between it and the body. 



