MITCHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 429 



The belly is ash coloured, the back dove or lead coloured. From 

 the sides, six or seven darker lines, about an eighth of an inch broad, 

 slope upward to the back, and about ten or a dozen bands nearly 

 half an inch broad, of a fainter hue, diversify the sides transversely from 

 head to tail. 



The jaws are almost even ; though, correctly speaking, the lower is 

 rather shorter, and shuts fairly within the upper. The teeth are sharp 

 and distinct. There is a single row of them on each side of the palate 

 extending toward the throat, which Dr. Bloch mentions as a great 

 peculiarity. 



The skin generally is smooth and silky ; but patches of minute 

 scales are found between the nape of the neck and the rear of the pec- 

 toral fins ; and sometimes at the pectoral and caudal. 



There are eight spurious fins on the upper side of the tail, and seven 

 below. There are two dorsal fins, of which the foremost has twenty 

 rays, and the hindmost fourteen. The tail is forked, or almost lunated, 

 with three longitudinal fin-like excrescences on each side. 



The eyes are large, and the irides yellowish. The nostrils are double, 

 and the openings a quarter of an inch apart. The holes nearest the 

 nose are round and small ; those next the eyes resemble long and nar- 

 row vertical slits. 



The lateral line waves prettily along in its course. The leaden 

 colour is most distinct on the head and gill-covers. 



The pectoral fin is rather short, and contains twenty-four rays ; the 

 ventral smaller, and has six ; the anal fourteen ; and the caudal twenty- 

 four, with some imperfect ones. 



