OF BRITISH FISHES. • 83 



with which the other is not furnished ; two fore- 

 teeth approximating; and two larger canine, 

 which are rather crooked and compressed, with a 

 slight process or barb on the inside near the point ; 

 these are three quarters of an inch in length # : 

 the tongue is smooth, and, like the inside of the 

 mouth, silvery : the roof of the mouth is furnished 

 with a row of minute teeth on a prominent bone on 

 each side i the branchiostegous rays were injured, 

 and the gills were taken out, except one left by 

 accident, which was furnished with teeth on the 

 inside of the arched bone : the eyes are very large, 

 being nearly one inch and three quarters in dia- 

 meter, independent, not covered with the common 

 skin; irides silvery, nostrils ovate, placed just 

 before the eyes : gill-coverts of one very thin 

 plate : pectoral fins five inches long, consisting of 

 twelve rays, the lower ones exceeding the upper 

 by one half: instead of ventral fins there are two 

 oblong silvery scales, half an inch in length, part- 

 ly detached from the body, and connected to each 

 other at the base : these are situated considerably 

 behind the pectoral fins : the anus is about half 

 way between the two extremities : the anal fin 

 commences at about eleven inches from the end 

 of the tail, and runs within one and a half of the 

 caudal fin, containing seventeen rays : the dorsal 



F 2 



* This pair of teeth does not interrupt the line of the 

 smaller teeth, but stands within them, 



