74 



ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



firm state of preservation, it is hardly possible to say whether they are new or 

 not. In form, they differ but little from the P. cyanophrys of Cuvier and 

 Valenciennes : still they are evidently not that species, and one point of 

 difference consists in the lateral line, which terminates beneath the end of the 

 second dorsal, and is not carried on to the caudal, as represented in the figure of 

 the above species in the " Histoire des Poissons :" the eye too appears rather 

 larger ; the forehead is hardly so much elevated, and the pectorals are shorter 

 than the head. Perhaps it may be the P. leucurus of the above authors ; though 

 this species is from the Indian seas, so that its range must be considerable if the 

 same. The description of the P. leucurus in the " Histoire des Poissons" is too 

 short to determine this point. It is said to have been so named on account of its 

 whitish tail, all the other fins being black. In the present species, the fins are 

 likewise black, or at least dusky, except the caudal, which Mr. Darwin's notes, 

 taken from the recent fish, state to have had " a pink tinge." In the same notes 

 it is added, — " belly silvery white mottled with brownish black ; sides bluish with 

 dusky greenish markings ; iris yellow, with dark blue pupil." The fin-ray 

 formula is as follows : 



D. 10—1/27 ; A. 3/27 ; C. 17, &c. ; P. 17 or 18 ; V. 1/5. 

 Though these specimens are small, they have the appearance of being nearly 

 full-sized. Cuvier and Valenciennes state that their specimens of the P. leucurus 

 do not exceed two inches in length. 



Stromateus maculatus. Cuv. et Vol. ? 



Stromateus maculatus, Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. torn. ix. p. 296. 

 Form. —General form so extremely similar to that of the S. Fiatola of the Mediterranean as to 

 preclude the necessity of a detailed description. Greatest depth one-third of the length : head 

 one-fifth of the same. Number of rays in the dorsal and anal fins somewhat greater than in 

 the S. Fiatola. The height of the dorsal also a little greater, being contained about three 

 times and a half in the depth : the fifth and sixth soft rays longest. Fleshy part of the tail 

 more slender. Pectorals about the length of the head. 



B. 6; D. 7/41 ; A. 5/40 ; C. 17, besides several short ; P. 23 ; V. 0. 

 Length 8 inches 6 lines. 

 Colour. — " Silvery blue above, with regular circular leaden spots." — D. The spots are small, and 

 of nearly equal size : they prevail from the back downwards to about the middle of the depth, 

 and advance a little on the base of the dorsal fin. The arrangement of them is much as 

 described in the " Histoire des Poissons." 



Habitat, Chiloe, West Coast of S. America. 



It is just possible that this may not be specifically the same as the S. maculatus 

 of Cuvier and Valenciennes, but it comes so extremely near that species that I do 



