61 



around the orbit, another from posterior nostril across anterior edge of 

 orbit to lower limb of preoperculum, then broken, then continued to base 

 of ventral; and two others across the operculum; the anterior extend- 

 ing over the base of pectoral to belly, blue. Several blue spots between 

 the orbit and snout. Fins yellowish. 



ECHENEIDIDJE. 



Fishes of this family are freqently taken, clinging to sharks or to the 

 shells of turtles * The sharks thus encumbered are frequently much 

 emaciated. Leptecheneis naucrates (Linn.) Gill, L. naucmteoidc* (Zuiew) 

 Gill, and Ptheirichthys Kneatiis (Menz.) Gill are probably the most com- 

 mon species of " Suck-fish " found here. 



SPHYBJEMDJE. 



SPHYE^NA SPET, (Haiiy) Goode. 

 Barracuda. 



Esox dorso dipterygio Linne, Mus. Ad. Fried, ii. 1754, 100. 



Esox sphyrcena, Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10. i, 1758, 313, ed. 12 ; i, 1766, 115 ; Gmelin, Linne", 



Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 1389.— Block, Ichth. xi, 1797. 

 Sphyrna sphyrcena, Bloch, Ichth. 1797, taf. ccclxxxix.— Schneider, Bloch, Syst. Ichth. 



1801, 109.— Risso, Ichth. Nice, 1810, 332. 

 Esox spet, Hauy, Encyclop6die M6thodique, iii, Poissons, 7187. 

 Sphyrcena spet Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. v, 1803, 326-8. — ? Bonaparte, Iconografia 



della Fauna Italica, iii, Pesci, plate with part 152. 

 Sphyrcena becuna, Lacepede, op. cit. 327-9, pi. ix, f. 1. — Ouv. & Val., Hist Nat. Pois. 



iii, 1829, 340 (part) ; and vii, 1831, 507. 

 Sphyrcena vulgaris, Cuv. & Val., op. cit. iii, 1829, 327. — Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. 



Mus. ii, 1861, 334. 

 Sphyrcena viridensis, Cuv. & Val., sc, op. cit. 339. 



Common ; frequently found in the markets, and eaten with impunity, 

 as far as I could learn. My specimens measured nearly two feet, and it 

 is said to attain a much greater size. This is not the Barracuda of the 

 West Indies, but the common species of the Mediterranean known by 

 the Spanish as Espeto and by the Italians as Sfirena and Luzzo. Its oc- 

 currence so far west has, I believe, never before been observed. Gunther 



* All four species of the pelagic turtles of the Atlantic are common, and were ob- 

 served by me, viz: — Splmrgis coriacea, Chelonemydas, EretmochelijS imbricata, and Thalas- 

 30chelys caouana. These, with a small saurian, Eumeces longirostris, Cope, make up the 

 reptilian fauna of the Bermudas. 



