XXV111 



Mr. Jonathan Couch's 



each longer than the other ; the fourth ray longest : the fin then becomes narrower, 

 and continues slender to within an inch of the tail. Anal fin shaped like the dorsal ; 

 pectoral 6 inches long, rather narrow, pointing obliquely upward ; ventrals triangular, 

 having a wing three-fourths of its length ; tail deeply forked : lateral line nearer the 

 back, obscure. The head, body and fins, — except the pectorals and ventrals, — and 

 even the mystache, covered with firmly fixed scales, which are deficient in a band 

 across the forehead, the colour of which, and also of the back, is a very dark blue ; 

 copper-coloured brown over and before the eye ; somewhat silvery on the sides and 

 below ; the dorsal and anal fins, and a stripe along the root of the former, are a 

 sparkling silvery white, tinted with green before the dorsal fin, coppery and lake along 

 the upper part of the sides ; some dusky irregular stripes on the sides. Fin rays : — 

 dorsal, 34 ; anal, 30 ; pectoral, 18 ; ventral, 25 ; caudal, 24. 



Brama Raii. 



Besides other distinguishing marks of difference between this fish and the former, 

 as will be seen in their respective figures, the arrangement of the scales on the fins 

 will particularly distinguish them ; for while in the fish first described they were as 

 uniformly distributed on the fins as over the body, so that the rays could not be dis- 

 tinguished, — in the latter they were so arranged in lines that each ray possessed its 

 own, and thus each admitted of a slight degree of motion, the points of the fins also 

 being free. 



This fish was taken with a line, and was brought to me soon after its capture ; 

 but the silvery line along the root of the dorsal fin does not appear to vanish very 

 readily, for it continued when the finer tints were no longer to be seen. 



I learn, from a note in Cuvier's ' Animal Kingdom,' that Rafinesque, a Sicilian 

 naturalist, highly commended by Mr. Swainson, has described two species of the 

 genus Brama ; but I have no opportunity of comparing my observations with what he 

 has said concerning them. Cuvier concludes, from some^mistakes that this gentle- 

 man had fallen into in describing other subjects of Natural History, that no de- 

 pendence should be placed on his remarks on this also. 



Jonathan Couch. 



Polperro, Cornwall, 

 March, 1840. 



