398 



APPENDIX. 



nasns and Bloch, of the only two species of Cepola then sup- 

 posed to exist, should be so vague as to render their differences 

 very questionable ; for in those daj' s slight modifications of 

 form were not attended to. But we must confess our surprise 

 that M]M. Cuvier and Valenciennes, in their chapter upon 

 this genus, should commence with assuring us that they know 

 of but one species found on the coasts of Europe, namely, the 

 Cepolaj which they have figured as the Lmncean rubescens. 

 This name, as originating in the great Swedish naturalist, we 

 shall retain, using it to designate that species which seems to 

 be the most common on the more northern coasts of Europe. 

 But it will subsequently appear, that this name cannot be 

 given to the figure in the general ichthyological work of 

 Cuvier, inasmuch as it not only differs from the British fish, 

 but from all others we have yet met with. It seems, in fact, 

 either to be an entirely new Cepola, or to have been drawn from 

 a dried and injured specimen. The species of the interesting 

 group we shall now briefly describe, are all natives of the Sici- 

 lian or British coasts ; most of them were examined in a 

 recent state, and specimens, in spirits, were sent to the British 

 Museum for subsequent examination. The fate of this inter- 

 esting and to us invaluable collection, has been more than 

 once adverted to. Out of near 200 specimens, then in beau- 

 tiful preservation, not more than a dozen can now be found ; 

 so that, but for our notes and drawings, these discoveries 

 would have been lost to science. 



A genera] uniformity, not only of shape, but of colours, appears to run 

 through the whole of this group; the specific ?characters resting for the 

 most part on the form and rays of the caudal fin {fg. 127.)j which, on at- 



tentive examination, will be found to vary in a most remarkable manner. 

 These characters, so difficult to determine' in preserved specimens, either 

 wet or dry, may in some measure account for the universal belief of there 

 being but one species-. 



