MITCHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 409 



Colour of the head and body a light brown, glossed with silvery and 

 blue ; and interspersed with spots and blotches of a darker hue. Some 

 of these clouds slant obliquely forward from the dorsal fin ; some run 

 obliquely backward from the nape of the neck ; and some pass midway 

 from the sides to the tail. There is here and there an insulated dark 

 patch, with dirty discolourations toward the white belly. 



He grows rapidly thick and stout toward the thorax ; and then 

 gently and gradually slopes away toward the tail. 



There is a single cirrhus appended to the tip of the chin. Second 

 dorsal extends almost to the tail. Fins pale brown, with whitish spots 

 bordering on yellowish in the ventral, pectoral, and anal. Vent nearer 

 the tail. Lateral line begins near the eye, bends gently upward, and 

 extends to the extremity of the caudal fin. 



Rays, Br. 6. V. 5. P. 19. D. 9—25. A. 10. C. 17. 



2. Black Drum. (Sciana fusca.} With orifices about the nose, 

 cirrhi under the chin, and first dorsal fin received into a furrow. 



Length, when full grown, thirty-eight or forty inches ; depth, fourteen 

 or sixteen. Spreads from the back wedgewise toward the belly, which 

 is rather flattish and broad, rendering it easy to turn the dead fish upon 

 the belly for examination. Mouth rather under. Lips round, thick, 

 and fleshy. Nostrils double ; and eight orifices or punctures near the 

 end of the snout, just above the upper lip. 



The black drum often equals fifteen, twenty, and even thirty, pounds. 

 The individual now before me comes to thirty-four. I once weighed a 

 drum that was as heavy as eighty pounds. I have been credibly in- 

 formed of one that weighed a hundred and one pounds. He is taken 

 abundantly during the summer, both with the line and net. 



Head big, fleshy, and scaly. A clustered row of small teeth in the 

 gums. Tongue broad and smooth. In the throat a singular arrange- 



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