100 
ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
originally smooth, the tongue would probably continue so, were the specimen 
preserved in spirits, although, were it preserved dry, this organ might become 
rough. In the number of rays in the branchiostegous membrane and in the fins 
there is a general agreement between Bloch’s C. tcenia and the specimen under 
consideration. The C. tcenia is described to have in Branc. memb. 6; P. 15 ; V. 
6; A. 63; C. 10; D. 66. 
“ It seems unnecessary to extend the description any further, or to those cha- 
racters on which authors are agreed. In the 10th volume of the Histoire 
Naturelle des Poissons, of Cuvier and Valenciennes, which did not appear in 
time to be quoted in the excellent volumes of Mr. Yarrell (Brit. Fishes), and 
Mr. Jenyns (Man. Brit. Vert.), the C. rubescens is treated of in the usual full 
and complete manner characteristic of that great work. The subject occupies 
thirteen pages, in which the C. rubescens is set forth as the only species of its 
genus yet discovered in the European seas, the C. tcenia , C. marginata, &c., 
being rejected as species. I have, nevertheless, thought it might not be useless 
to describe the present individual, so far as I have done, in consequence of its 
superior size to Cuvier and Valenciennes’ specimens, and which did not come 
under their observation in a recent state. 
“ Of four Mediterranean specimens (preserved in spirits) of C. rubescens 
which I have examined, and which were obtained at the Ionian Islands, by Ro- 
bert Templeton, Esq., of the Royal Artillery, and presented, along with many 
other fish from the same locality, to the Natural History Society of Belfast, one 
is 6 inches, and the other three from 9 to 10 inches in length. The smallest is 
very considerably compressed, quite as much so as the largest, although an indivi- 
dual of about equal size, described by Mr. Couch (Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 
76), was nearly round, from which some authors have inferred that this is the 
general form of the species in a young state. In the two larger individuals, 
which are in better preservation than the others, the series of bone-like pro- 
cesses appear on the dorsal ridge, and also on the ventral, though less conspicu- 
ously. In all, the tongue is smooth. In none of them are there any teeth, 
either inside or outside the row on the lower jaw, and in both jaws the teeth 
are much fewer in number than in the large specimen which is the subject of 
this communication.” 
Family Mugilid^e. 
The Thick-lipped Grey Mullet, Mugil Chelo, Cuv., 
Frequents the East coast, from North to South, but whether or not it is 
the mullet found around the island I have not had the means of judg- 
ing. All of those which I have critically examined from the North-East 
coast, from Dublin, and from Cork, were of this species. 
The following notes were communicated by me, in 1838, to the Annals 
of Nat. Hist. (vol. i. p. 350) : — 
“ On endeavouring, in the spring of 1835, to identify the common mullet of 
Ireland with Cuvier’s species in the Regne Animal, I perceived its agree- 
ment with the few characters there attributed to M. Chelo , but before record- 
ing it as this species, awaiting a comparison with a more detailed description. 
This has since been afforded me in the Histoire des Poissons of the same 
illustrious author; and, together with the accompanying figure illustrative of 
the head of M. Chelo , confirms, beyond a doubt, the identity of the species. 
“ In the justly valued works of Yarrell * and Jenyns, f Mr. Couch is mention- 
ed as the only naturalist who has noticed the appearance of the M. Chelo on the 
British coast ; but in a review of the British Fishes in the Magazine of Zoology 
and Botany, it is remarked, £ the thick-lipped grey mullet, reckoned so rare 
by Mr. Yarrell, as to have been seen only once by Mr. Couch, is the common 
History of British Fishes. f Manual of British Vertebrate Animals. 
