ENGLISH FISHES. 



439 



the anal fin commences immediately behind the 

 vent, which is situated a trifle nearer the head 

 than the tail ; these fins unite at the posterior end, 

 and form a caudal fin, as in the Eel and the Ophi- 

 dium i^mberbe : the pectoral fins are extremely 

 small, not exceeding a line in length, so that it 

 was scarcely possible that they should have been 

 noticed in Mr Pennant's specimen, where the 

 posterior end also had contracted into a point, des- 

 titute of fin, probably from drying. That none 

 of these characters, so different from what was 

 originally described by Mr Pennant, should have 

 been noticed by Mr Davies, who says he has seen 

 four specimens, is only to be accounted for, by 

 supposing, they had been suffered to dry before 

 examination, by which the delicate texture of 

 the fins was irrecoverably lost, as I found to be 

 partially the consequence of one of my speci- 

 mens having been put into a letter to preserve it 

 till the captor reached home, when it was im- 

 mersed in spirits. Yet, with this care, the caudal 

 fin was obliterated, and the dorsal and anal incom- 

 plete^ I cannot discover any operculum to the 

 gills, which are extremely obscure ; nor is there 

 any appearance of branchiostegous rays ; it is on- 

 ly in the living fish these parts can be expected 

 to be sufficiently definable ^. 



FfSl 



* Mr Pennan'R was certainly deceived with respect to the 

 aperture of the gills, which he describes to be large. 



