292 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



Length, 20 inches fall ; 9ith inches to vent from point 

 of snout ; and lOf ths inches from vent to point of tail. 



Length of head, lfths inch. From snout to front of orbit, 

 f ths of an inch full ; from thence to extremity of gill-cover 

 (including the eye), fths of an inch. Length from point 

 of snout to commencement of dorsal fin, 7f ths inches (the 

 fin is 2£ inches in length) ; and length from beginning of 

 fin to extremity of tail 12f ths inches. The termination of 

 the fin is therefore nearly the middle point in the length 

 of the body — the fin being in front of the middle of the 

 fish. 



The body, or portion of fish from head to vent, consists of 

 30 plates, rings, or divisions (the vent being situated in the 

 thirtieth plate or division, and under the twenty-sixth ray 

 of dorsal fin) ; and there are 64 or 65* plates or divisions 

 from vent to end of tail ; the transverse markings cease 

 beyond vent. Dorsal fin has 39 fin rays, on eleven rings, 

 and a very slight attachment to another in front, three of 

 which rings succeed the anal ring, and therefore belong to 

 the tail ; the fin commences at the latter part of the twenty- 

 second transverse plate, and extends past the middle of the 

 thirty-third plate or ring. 



These divisions and transverse plates are distinct, and 

 the angles of the octangularly-shaped body are also tolerably 

 distinct ; the dorsal one is not acute, but rather rounded, the 

 first and second lateral being the most distinct ; these last, 

 on each side, form, behind the vent, the distinct angles of 

 the quadrilateral body, which also decreases considerably in 

 size, and tapers gradually to the pointed extremity of tail.] 



VI. Crex porzana, Spotted Crake (specimen exhibited). By John Alex. 



Smith, M.D. 



This specimen of the Spotted Crake or Kail (Crex porzana) 



* Yarrell, in the first and second editions of his "British Fishes," erro- 

 neously quotes from Montagu's original description of this fish (Wern. Mem., 

 vol. i. p. 85) the statement, that, from the vent to the extremity of the tail, 

 this fish consists of " about thirty-six plates," whereas, in Montagu's descrip- 

 tion, it is stated to be " about sixty-six plates." This is probably merely 

 a typographical error. 



