APPENDIX. 4^ 1 



TRIGLA bracanthus. Smooth-eyed Gurnard. 



Scales of the lateral line large, smooth, and entire, 

 orbits entirely smooth, and no spine on the preopercule. 

 Nineteen rays on the second dorsal, the last short 

 and simple ; lower lobe of the caudal longest. 



Dorsal 8, 19; pectoral 10 ; anal 17 ; v'entral 6 ; caudal 12. 



Inhabits Sicily. Palermo. (19 January, 1815.) 



General form of the T. lucerna as figured by Cuvier and Valenciennes, but 

 the anal fin is broadest, not narrowest, at its coiTimencenient, and the lower 

 lobe of the tail is longest, not equal to the other: the fourth ray is equal to 

 the first, not shorter ; head small, the snout hardly divided, ana armed with 

 one acute spine at each of the two angles ; the orbits above and before the 

 eye are quite smooth, but there is a small prickle between the hinder part 

 of the eye and the occipital spine ; the upper angle of the preoperculum 

 has a small spine, rather larger than that behind the eye, and almost equal 

 to that at the base of the pectoral, but there is no spine whatever on the 

 preoperculum ; ventral fins reaching to the vent, and shorter than the 

 pectoral, which reaches to the third ray of the second dorsal ; the first 

 dorsal, as in Cuvier's lucerna, but the thiril is much longer than the Jirst 

 ray ; all the rays of the second dorsal are forked, excepting the first and 

 last, which are simple ; while the last ray is close to the one preceding, 

 and not more than two thirds its length. The vent is immediately below 

 the first ray of the second anal ; and the commencement of the anal is 

 under the second ray; the anal rays are all forked the last so deeply as to 

 appear double ; dorsal spines small and simple ; the latteral line is marked 

 by a series of large, smooth, imbricate scales not emarginated at their 

 edges, or with any radiated stride ; the first dorsal ray not serrated. 



Colour From life; irides silvery; inside of the gills orange red; 



upper parts of the body reddish, clouded with grey ; pectoral appendages, 

 with the dorsal and caudal fins, pale reddish, with darker clouds ; ventral 

 and anal fins white; sides of the body with a silvery stripe ; belly and 

 under parts white ; pectoral fins externally pale red, but brown at the base 

 between the rays, which are themselves pale ; inner surface, or that next 

 the body, brownish black ; the rays the same, the margin of the membrane 

 edged with blue, but the tips of the rays white. 



Whether this is the filarts of Otto, considered by Cuvier as identical with 

 his lucerna, 1 have no means of judging. His words I have here quoted*; 

 but with regard to the Orghe of Risso, I am totally at a loss to comprehend, 

 for the following reasons, how it could be confounded with the lucerna. 

 Risso expressly says that his Orghe has the " lateral line formed of little 

 prickles :" in Cuvier's lucina this line is smooth. Risso's si)ecies have the 

 pectorals short, while Cuvier's have them so long as to equal (as in ours) 

 one third the total length of the body. Risso further states that the oper- 

 culum is terminated par un long aiguillon, whereas all the spines in 

 Cuvier's lucerna are stated to be very small. Risso's fish has the pectorals 

 dark red, with scattered spots of yellow and blue ; but M. Cuvier having 

 only seen a specimen in spirits, of his lucina, quotes Risso's description. 



* "M. Risso decrit celui dont nous allons parler sous la nom d'Orgke, et 

 Briinnch, qui le decrit aussi tres-bien, se demande si ce n'est pas la bri- 

 gotte ou la cabotte de Marseillais. Peut-etre est ce en efFet la cabotte de 

 Du Hamel ; mais qu'eclaircira jamais les confuscons sans nombre de la 

 nomenclature populaire ? A tous ces noms M. Otto vient encore d'en 

 ajouter un. Son Trigla filaris n'est bien certainement pas autre chose que 

 V Orghe de M. Risso. ''^ Cuv, et Val. iv. p. 74. 



£ E 3 



