ICHTHYOLOGY. 



one of his voyages of discovery. This fish was considered generally 

 as a native of the Indian Seas, and was described under this per- 

 suasion in the Naturalist's Miscellany as an Indian species. The 

 colour of this example of the fish was brown ; Dr. Shaw expressly 

 says " the whole animal was a deep brown," and the same description 

 is repeated in the General Zoology of that author, but this discolor- 

 ation proves to be merely accidental, it arose only from the bad quality 

 of the spirit in which it had been preserved, as Dr. Shaw has since 

 suggested to be very probable. 



Some time after the first description had appeared. Dr. Shaw 

 was shown a drawing of this fish taken from a recent subject captured 

 upon the coast of Van Dieman's-land by Captain Tobin, the des- 

 cription of which was introduced upon this authority into the General 

 Zoology. Dr. Shaw, the author of that work, produces it as a new 

 species, under the specific name of Striatus ; his conclusion in this 

 respect is however qualified with indecision — " Whether this fish," 

 says Dr. Shaw, " be a sexual difference of the preceding or a distinct 

 species may perhaps be doubted ; it may also be added, that the 

 Eared Trunk- fish may in reality be no other than the present animal 

 changed entirely in colour from having been long preserved in spirits 

 of wine." 



Dr. Shaw has omitted to observe in addition to those remarks, 

 that besides the specimen of this curious fish in the British Museum, 

 there was another example among the fishes collected by Captain 

 Cook in the South Seas and presented to Sir Ashton Lever. This 

 Leverian example, to which we ourselves invited the attention of 

 Dr. Shaw, having been partly exsiccated and preserved in a glazed 

 case, exhibited evidently the traces of the lineatipns so conspicuous 



