MITCHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK, 6Vo 



sors in each jaw ; and two other teeth situated next to them, one on 

 each side, that may be considered as canine. The former are straight ; 

 the latter rather turned inwards. Within, and beyond these, two or 

 three rows of round-topped grinders, making a bony pavement, as it 

 were, inside of the mouth. No cirrhus or roughness of any kind on the 

 head, neck, or snout. Lower jaw shorter than the upper. 



Nostrils double. Eyes large, vertical, brown, and connected by a pro- 

 minent brow. Head united to the body, without any proper neck. 

 Gill-covers broad and smooth. Opening ample. From a scaly spot a 

 little above the branchial aperture, proceeds a coloured and curved 

 streak to the withers. A single dorsal fin, strong and spinous, lowering 

 into a deep furrow the greater part of its course. 



The expanded tail measures six inches across, and is neatly concave, 

 or almost lunated. A scaly process near the insertion of the ventral fin. 



Lateral line almost corresponds with the arch of the back, and radi- 

 ates prettily on the scales over which it passes. 



General colour of the sheep's head a white, or obscure silvery, with a 

 smutty daubing over the face and chin, a greenish tinge above the brow, 

 and six or seven dark bands or zones of an inch or more in breadth, 

 regularly slanting from back to belly. The latter, a dull white, ap- 

 proaching, in some places and individuals, to cream colour. 



Scales large, horny, distinguished by radiated and concentric lines ; 

 and somewhat like a square rounded a little at the corners. They are 

 deeply inserted into the skin ; adhere with remarkable firmness ; and 

 when they are separated, there is discoverable, on the edges of the skin^ 

 which enclosed them, a sort of tarnished argentine, or brightish leaden 

 hue. Rays of all the fins coarse. 



The pectorals are long and pointed. Tongue white and smooth. 



The intestines of the individual I last dissected were lengthy, con- 

 voluted, and filled with the fragments of several sorts of crabs. Swimr 



52 



