atherinil\e. 225 



1. Atherina presbyter, Plate LXV, fig. 1. 



Duhamel, Peches, ii, sect. 6, pi. iv, f. 1-4, 7. Osbeck, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. iv, 

 p. 103, No. 22. Atherine, Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1) iii, p. 328, pi. lxv. (Ed. 2) 

 iii, p. 434, pi. lxxvi ; Gronov. Zooph. No. 399, and Mus. Ica. p. 23, no. 66. 



Atherina hepsetus, Donov. Brit. Fish, iv, pi. lxxxvii; Turton, Brit. Eauna, 

 p. 105 ; Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 217 ; Yarrell, Zool. Journal, iv, p. 471 (not Linn.). 



Atherina presbyter, Jenyns, Manual, p. 377; Yarrell, Brit. Fishes (Ed. 1), i, 

 p. 214, c. fig. (Ed. 2) i, p. 229 (Ed. 3) ii, p. 170 ; Parnell, Wern. Mem. vii, 

 p. 230, and Fishes Firth of Forth, p. 70 ; Cuv. and Val. x, p. 439, pi. cccv ; 

 Thompson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 80, and Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 106 ; 

 Templeton, Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 1837, i, p. 409; Lowe, Trans. Zoo. Soc. 

 ii, p. 184 ; Guichen. Explor. Alger. Poissons, p. 66 ; Cuv. Regne Anim. 111. Poiss. 

 pi. lxxvi, f. 3 ; White, Catal. p. 26 ; Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 243 ; Giinther, Catal. 

 iii, p. 392 ; Schlegel, Dieren Neder. p. 28, pi. ii, f. 5 ; Steind. Ich. Span. u. Port. 

 1868, p. 11; Ogilby, Zoologist, 1876, p. 4754; Mcintosh, Fish. St. Andrew's, 

 p. 176 ; Giglioli, Catal. Pesc. Italiani, p. 32 ; Moreau, Poiss. France, iii, p. 207. 



Atherine, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, iii, p. 1, pi. exxi, f. 2. 



B. vi, D. 7-9/^-3, P. 13-15, V. 1/5, A. t^Cts), C. 17, L. 1. 57-62, L. tr. 

 10-11, Vert. 51. 



Length of head 5| to 6, of caudal fin 5f to 6\, height of body 5| to 6-| in the 

 total length. Eye — diameter 2| to 3 in the length of the head, 3/4 to 1 diameter 

 from the end of the snout, and 1 diameter apart. Abdominal profile more convex 

 than the dorsal. Cleft of the mouth oblique, the posterior extremity of the 

 maxilla reaches to beneath the first third of the orbit : the lower jaw somewhat 

 projects in front of the upper. Teeth — present in the jaws, vomer, palatines, and 

 in a medium patch along the tongue. Fins — the first dorsal commences over the 

 middle of the ventral fins, its second and third spines longest, equalling the highest 

 rays of the second dorsal, and 2/3 of the height of the body below it. The 

 second dorsal commences above the sixth anal ray. Caudal forked. Scales — on 

 the opercles and cheeks. Coecal appendages absent. Colours — semi- diaphanous, of 

 an olive -brown along the back, becoming silvery tinted with purple, on the sides 

 and beneath. Numerous fine black dots along the edges of the scales in the upper 

 half of the body. A burnished silvery band, darkest superiorly, extends from the 

 eye to the centre of the base of the caudal fin, it occupies the lower half of the 

 fourth, the whole of the fifth and the upper half of the sixth row of scales in the 

 anterior region of the body. Those in the north of Ireland are of a darker ground 

 colour than those in England, and the spots above the lateral-line more numerous. 



Jenyns observes in his description of some examples from the Sussex coast that 

 they had fifty-one vertebrae, and the same number have been present in such as I 

 have examined : the first twenty-five being abdominal and the remainder caudal. 

 The lower apophyses of the anterior caudal vertebras are curved so as to form a 

 wide canal for the posterior process of the air-bladder ; while the second to the 

 seventh of them have also broad expansions protecting the canal. Taking thirty- 

 one specimens from the south coast, I found the formula of the fin rays as follows : 

 first dorsal seven spines in three, eight spines in twenty-four, and nine spines in 

 four ; the posterior one being delicate, is liable to be injured or overlooked. The 

 second dorsal had one spine in all, and eleven rays in four, twelve rays in nine, 

 and thirteen rays in eighteen. The anal had one spine in all, fourteen rays in five, 

 fifteen rays in thirteen, sixteen rays in twelve, and eighteen rays in one. 



Thompson found much the same number in the nine Irish examples which he 

 described D. 7-8/^1^, A. -j-5-Ts. 



Varieties. — Inform: Jenyns found the eye in some examples having fifty-one 

 vertebrae, 2-J- diameters in the length of the head. As to colour. — Thompson 

 observes that the atherine of the north of Ireland differs from the English 

 specimens in being of a darker, and consequently a less sandy colour. 



Names. — Smelt or sand smelt, where the true Osmerns eperlanus is unknown. 

 A local name is silver-sides, from its colour. In Cornwall it was formerly termed 

 Quid, a word signifying "white." Pincher at Portrush (Ogilby). Portaferry 



15 



