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N J Account of a New Species of Bintish Bream, and of an Undescrihed Species of 

 Skate: To wMch is added a List of the Fishes of the Frith of Forth, and its 

 Trihutary. Streams, with Observations. By Richard Parnell, M.D., F. R.S.E., 



Read l7th April 1837. 



In the beginning of July last, I obtained, from the Frith of Forth, a species 

 of bream, which has not been mentioned by naturahsts as inhabiting the British 

 seas. A few days after, I procured, from the same quarter, a second specimen of 

 the same species, each exhibiting a conspicuous dark violet-coloured spot at the 

 base of the upper part of the pectoral fins. (See Plate VI.) 



On consulting the continental works on Ichthyology, I find this bream to 

 agree best with the description Baron Cuvier has given of the Pagelhis acarne, 

 an inhabitant of the Mediterranean ; but, as no figure of the fish accompanies his 

 description, the discrimination of the species is rendered somewhat uncertain. 



From the great similarity the breams bear to each other in their external 

 form, it is not to be wondered at if naturalists have occasionally noticed two spe- 

 cies under one synonym, for without accurate figures, or the specimens them- 

 selves before us, the closely allied species are with difficulty discriminated. 



I think it not improbable, judging from the description Mr Yarrell has 

 given of the Pagrus vulgaris, that a specimen of the acarne has fallen under his 

 observation, and been mistaken for a variety of the Pagrus vulgaris, which it 

 greatly resembles ; for, in his description of that fish (vol. i. page 103), he says, 

 " the pectoral fins have occasionally a violet-coloured spot at their origin ;" a cha- 

 racter which is constant in the acarne, and which has not been noticed by any 

 other author as occurring in the Pagrus vidgaris. 



Generic Characters. — Pagellus. — Front teeth conical, sharp, and numerous. 

 Molars rounded. 



Specific Character. — On the base of the pectoral fins, a large dark spot. 



Description. — Length 13 inches ; depth, in the region of the pectorals, 4 

 inches. Head one-third the length of the body, exclusive of the caudal rays. Eye 

 placed half way between the tip of the upper jaw and the po'iterior margin of 

 the operculum ; its diameter one-fourth the length of the head. Pectorals reach- 

 ing as far as the first ray of the anal fin. Dorsal fin commencing over the poste- 



