boMBEYAN GASTROBRANCHUS. iGj 



render the whole so glutinous as easily to be drawn 

 out into the form of threads : when taken out of 

 water the Gastrobranchus is said to be incapable 

 of living more than three or four hours. It is an 

 inhabitant of the Northern seas, and appears also 

 to occur in those of the Southern Hemisphere, 

 where, as before mentioned, it arrives at a much 

 larger size than in the northern regions 



DOMBEYAN GASTROBRANCHUS. 



Gastrobranchus Dombeyi. G. copite tuwido. 

 Gastrobranchus with tumid head. 

 Gastrobranchus Dombey. Cepede, 



Size much larger than the European specimens 

 of the Gastrobranchus coecus : head rounded : 

 and broader than the body : on the upper lip four 

 beards; number of those on the lower uncertain, the 

 specimen being described in a dried state: teeth 

 pointed, compressed, triangular, and disposed in 

 - two circular ranges, the exterior of which is com- 

 posed of twenty-two, and the interior of fourteen 

 teeth : a single tooth longer than the rest, and of a 

 curved form in the roof of the mouth, as in the 



* This idea is grounded on a drawing by Dr. Forster, pre- 

 served, among those of several other Southern fishes, &g. in tlie 

 collection of . Sir Joseph Banks, and which appears to represent 

 a gigantic specimen of the Gastrobranchus coecus. In the British 

 Museum is also a specimen of equal size, but not in such a state 

 as to admit of very accurate examination. Perhaps it may be 

 rather the Dombeyan Gastrobranchus. 



