418 MITOHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 



Colour pale brown on the back, with silvery sides, and white belly ; 

 variegated with hues of yellowish, blue, and green. 



A dozen or more narrow faint clouds slant down the sides, looking 

 almost like ribs. Five holes under the chin, among half a dozen very 

 delicate cirrhi. 



A greenish spot in the middle of the posterior gill plate. A dark 

 spot at the oiigin of the pectoral fin. Ventral and anal fins yellowish. 

 Has the ragged cirrhous appendage to the upper lip which the king- 

 fish possesses ; and also the two orifices near them. Has, indeed, very 

 much the habit of the kingfish. Two first anal rays spinous ; one 

 short, the other long. 



Rays, Br. 7. P. 17. V. 6. D. 10—29. A. 10. C. 17. 



3. Triple-tailed Perch. (Bodianus triourus.) A fish brought, 

 though not commonly, to the New-York market. 



The specimen which I procured on the 23d of July, 1814, measured 

 thirteen inches and a half in length, five in depth, not including the dor- 

 sal fin, and about one and a half in thickness. He is reported to 2;row 

 much larger, so as even to weigh four or five pounds. The one before 

 me was taken in a seine, on the Jersey shore, near Powles-Hook. 

 He weighed twenty-seven ounces. 



Snout rather elongated. A knob, or gibbosity in front of the dorsal 

 fin. Eyes rather small, and of a purple or amethystine colour. 



The tail is convex or rounded. The posterior rays of the dorsal 

 and anal fins are so much lengthened and expanded, as to resemble cau- 

 dal fins, and to give the fish somewhat of an appearance of three tails. 



Gill-cover tripartite, and scaly. The posterior edge of the foremost 

 lamina, strongly aculeated, and almost spinous. A bony plate, with a 

 serrated edge behind the gill-opening. Another with a similar edge 

 above the gill-opening. 



