174 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



copied from a coloured drawing by Lieutenant Hood, of a recent fish taken in Pine 

 Island Lake, lat. 54°, the other is of a dried specimen, brought from Boothia Felix 

 by Captain James Clark Ross, who took it in a small lake. The figure of the 

 latter (Plate 83, f. 2), and particularly that of the head in Plate 87, f. 1, exhibit 

 the correct forms of the opercular bones, and the relative size of the head and other 

 parts which were not so rigidly attended to in Mr. Hood's spirited drawing. The 

 arctic fish differs a little from the one common in the more southern parts of the 

 fur countries, in having shorter labials, more crowded and brighter scales, with a 

 different arrangement of colours, and longer fins ; but the proportions of the other 

 parts are so nearly the same, that I have not ventured to separate them in the 

 absence of a comparison of their internal structure. The shortness of the head dis- 

 tinguishes iS. Hoodii from the two preceding species, to which its general resem- 

 blance is very close. For the purpose of comparison I have added the dimensions 

 of a British Char in Mr. Yarrell's possession. That specimen, as well as the one 

 from Llyn Cawellyn, the head of which is represented in Plate 92, f. 5, has shorter 

 labials, and a larger eye than any of the American Chars which I have seen. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a specimen from Boothia Felix. 



Form. — The body is more slender than that of S. nitidus, and the head is a little more than 

 a sixth of the total length, caudal included. The orbit is nearer the end of the snout than in 

 S. nitidus, the intermaxillaries are shorter, and the labials shorter and somewhat wider. The 

 lower jaw, when the mouth is closed, projects beyond the upper one by the depth of the chin, 

 and it appears still longer when the mouth is open : its length, applied to the upper surface 

 of the head, passes about a quarter of an inch beyond the nape. 



Teeth smaller than in S. nitidus, but otherwise very similar, except on the tongue, that organ 

 being armed with a single row on each side which meet in a curve at its tip : there are also two 

 or three scattered teeth on the centre of the tongue, but no double or triple rows anteriorly. 



Gill-covers. — The operculum is narrow, its transverse diameter being scarcely half its 

 height. The height of the suboperculum exceeds half its length or transverse diameter. 



Scales much like those of S. nitidus but somewhat brighter. There are 126 on the lateral 

 line, 268 in a row immediately above it, 53 in a vertical row before the ventrals, of which 12 

 are below the first ray of that fin, and 28 above the lateral line. 



Fins.— Br. 10—11 ; D. 12—0; P. 15; V. 10; A. 11 ; C. 19|. From Boothia Felix. 

 Br. 10—11 ; D. 12—0 ; P. 13; V. 8 ; A. 10 ; C. 19|. From Mingan River. 



A larger individual from Mingan River, which falls into the estuary of the St. Lawrence, 

 differs from the preceding in having more remote scales, there being only 120 on the lateral 

 line : shorter labials : shorter fins ; and caudal even at the end. In other respects the resem- 

 blance is complete. The Mingan River fish is the ordinary form of the masamacush, and the 

 one from Boothia Felix ought, perhaps, to be considered as a variety with longer fins, arising 



