MITCBILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 363 



Length full nine inches; depth almost one and a half; thickness 

 three quarters. Scales few, very minute and deciduous. Head mo- 

 derate. Upper jaw projects over the lower, and receives it. Small 

 file-like teeth in the jaws, palate, and throat. Eyes large and white. 

 Body ae ni-transparent, and allowing the vertebrae to be half visible 

 through it. Dorsal and anal fins united round the tail, and neatly 

 trimmed with a black border. A speckled stripe on each side of the 

 dorsal fin. Lateral line gently curved to the back, and running through 

 a radiated or stellated stripe. Beneath this a row of indistinct spots ; 

 and under them, in the abdominal parts, six or seven faint clouds Belly 

 white, with yellow pectoral fins, and a yellowish tinge about the neck 

 and chin. 



But the most remarkable feature of this fish is a cirrhus of four divi- 

 sions, proceeding from the middle of the branchial membrane. Two of 

 these are on the right, and two on the left. One pair is about an inch 

 and a quarter long, and the other pair half that length. All the four 

 arise from a common base ; and the long one and short one on each 

 side seem to be but branches from the same root. They almost re- 

 semble bifid ventral fins. 



AMMODTTE8. LAUNCE. 



Generic character. 



Head compressed, narrower than the body. Upper lip doubled. 

 Lower jaw narrow, pointed. Teeth small, sharp. Gill membrane 

 seven rayed. Body long, roundish, with very small scales. Tail distinct. 



Sand launce, (Ammodytes tobianus.) With the lower jaw longer 

 than the upper. Length from eight to twelve inches. Colour silvery 

 white. Dorsal fin in a groove ; and the other characters corresponding 

 to the descriptions of the modern ichthyologists. 



