50 
FISHES. 
caught during the short stay of the Blossom : the former was also numerous. A species 
of Clupea, of small size, with the abdomen ventricose, was also pretty abundant : it is 
noticed as the Clup. Harengusd Many individuals were also caught in the nets, of a 
species of “ Gadus, L., resembling the Whiting, and having a pale smooth lateral line 
extending from the posterior part of the gills, and passing half-way between the pec- 
toral and dorsal fins to a little beyond the anterior part of the second dorsal.” — C. 
The anatomy of this fish, so far as it was examined by Mr. Collie, resembled that of 
the common Cod; its stomach contained shrimps. Four species of Pleuronectes, L., 
were also caught : the Pl. Hippoglossus?, of which only one young individual was seen ; 
a second, apparently allied to the Pleur. Platessa, L., having “a spinous line extending 
from the posterior part of the eyes to the hinder and upper part of the operculum, the 
remainder of the head being smooth” — C.: a third, noticed as a variety of the last, but 
having the “ head covered with rough slightly projecting tubercles” — C.; of these a con- 
siderable number were caught in a small bay at the inner part of the entrance of 
Avatscha Bay : and the Platessa stellata, Cuv., ( Pleur. stellatus, Pall.,) the scattered 
scales of which are described as “ subpentagonal, set round with short blunt small 
teeth” — C.: the only particular in which Mr. Collie’s short description differs from that 
of Tilesius, is in the statement that “ the stomach is thin and membranous ; it con- 
tained small fishes in a half-digested state” — C.; large quantities of it were caught at 
the inner part of the entrance of the bay ; the natives threw them away when taken in 
their nets, but the voyagers found them tolerably good eating. 
A specimen of the Balistes rectangulus, Selin., (Baliste echarpe, Lacep.,) brought 
home by the expedition, is ticketed, but probably erroneously, as having been obtained 
in Avatscha Bay. 
Off St. Lawrence Island was caught in the dredge a fish apparently allied to the 
genus Liparis, Art. It had the “ ventral fins placed before the pectorals, but 
united and continuous with them ; a flat, raised, and rough tubercle, of nearly the 
diameter of an English sixpence, was seated forwards between the pectorals, its ante- 
rior part reaching as far as the ventrals ; this may be of use in copulation : its caeca were 
pretty numerous.” — C. The roughness of this tubercle renders it difficult to refer the 
fish to any known species ; but it is probably nearly related to the Cyclopterus gelati- 
nosus, Pall., a Liparis which is known to inhabit the seas in which this was obtained. 
The existence of caeca removes it from Lepadogaster , Gouan. 
Kotzebue Sound afforded a specimen of a new species of Ophidium, L., the Oph. 
Stigma. 
On the coast of California, a little to the northwards of the harbour of San Fran- 
cisco, an Orthagoriscus was met with, apparently the Orth. Mola, Bl. They swam about 
the ship with the dorsal fin frequently elevated above the surface. 
At Macao a species of Tetrodon, L., evidently new to science, was described both 
by Mr. Collie and by Mr. Lay : — “ The middle of the lateral surface, the head, and 
towards the tail, are smooth : the back and belly are spinous, the spines of the latter 
part being longer than those of the back, but slender : the dorsal spines are confined to 
