4^4 COLONEL MONTAGU ON NEW AND RARE 



same as Z. tetradens) says, " The dorsal fin is con- 

 tinued from the hind part of the head throughout 

 the length of the back, as far as the tail, which is 

 small, and very much forked, with sharp tips. 

 The anal fin is much shallower than the dorsal, 

 and commences at the distance of but a few inches 

 from the tail, to the base of which it is con- 

 tinued." This description does not imply an actual 

 union of the three fins, but that the dorsal and 

 anal fins extend as far as, or to the base of the 

 caudal fin. I do not recollect any example of a 

 forked termination of the fin of a tail, where 

 there is no division between the three fins. 



Risso also refers to Trichmrus caudatus, given 

 by EupHRASEN in the new Transactions of Stock- 

 holm, vol. ix. p. 48., and to Walbaum's Ich- 

 thyologie (FArtedi, iii. p. 694., who he seems to 

 have followed in his genus Lepidope. 



Dr Shaw appears to have derived some infor- 

 mation concerning his fish from Dr Vandelli of 

 Coimbra, who had called it Trichiurus ensiformis, 

 the name by which it was known in the British 

 Museum. In the Vandellian fish described by 

 Shaw, and that given in the Wernerian Memoirs, 

 the larger teeth are only four, all situated in the 

 upper jaw ; and the only difference in description, 

 appears to have arisen from the circumstance of 

 the two posterior ones not having been observed 

 to be placed on the palate, just within the arrange- 

 ment of the smaller teeth. 



