234 
MALACOPTERYGII. 
weigh this character ; and further, I felt less reluctance in thus placing 
it, in consequence of Cepola rubescens, which it assimilates in some re- 
spects, having but one spinous ray, and that in the ventral fin. At the 
suggestion of John Edward Gray, Esq., F.R.S., I have, however, recon- 
sidered the subject, and have come to the conclusion above advanced. 
As a difference of opinion may still exist with regard to the position of 
this genus, I subjoin the observations originally made. 
Like certain other genera which are comprehended under Acanthop- 
terygii , the first order of the Osseous Fishes, its fins are altogether des- 
titute of spinous rays, but like those alluded to, such as Zocirces, &c., its 
other characters* * * § seem to point out the Tcenioides as the family to which 
it belongs. Of the eight f genera of Tcenioides already known, viz. Le- 
pidopus, Trichiurus, Gymnetrus, Stylephorus, Cepola , Lophotes, Tracliyp- 
terus , and Alepisaurus,\ the specimen under consideration agrees with 
Trichiurus and Stylephorus in being apodal, or wanting ventral fins, but 
in this character only is there any generic accordance. Though con- 
siderably more elongated, from the head posteriorly it approaches most 
nearly to Cepola rubescens in the form of the body and in the forward 
commencement of the anal fin, which, with the dorsal, is prolongated until 
it joins the caudal ; but it is only in the continuity of these fins until 
this junction is effected that the resemblance holds, as in my specimen 
the dorsal rays (of which the five foremost are very short) increase in 
length posteriorly, and near the caudal fin are about three times as long 
as the depth of the body beneath them ; in the anal fin, which is through- 
out much higher than the dorsal, the rays likewise increase posteriorly, 
and near the caudal are in length four times greater that the depth of the 
body at the same place. The length of the posterior rays of these fins 
causes the dorsal, anal, and caudal to appear as one, whilst, though they 
do join in Cepola rubescens , the last ray of the dorsal and anal being much 
shorter than the outer rays of the caudal, may at the same time be said 
to mark distinctly the termination of each fin.§ In my specimen the 
anal originates two lines in advance of the dorsal fin. 
In the form of the head and in dentition it differs so remarkably from 
all the other genera as to render a comparison with them unnecessary. 
Its absolute characters must suffice for distinction. 
As Mr. Yarrell has, in his valuable work on British Fishes (vol. i. p. 
185), suggested, that of the two specimens described as Trichiuri by Mr. 
Hoy in the Linnean Transactions (vol. xi. p. 210) the first may be the 
type of a new genus, it should be observed, that this individual approxi- 
mates the specimen under consideration in but one generic, and that a 
negative, character, namely, the want of ventral fins.” 
A friend who has seen my specimen informs me that in June, 1841, he 
saw a fish captured on a hook baited with a sand-eel, between Bangor 
and the Copeland Islands (entrance to Belfast Bay), which he thinks was 
* I allude to external characters only, being unwilling to dissect a specimen 
as yet unique. 
f For the purpose of comparison, all the genera given by Cuvier in the 
Regne Animal and Hist, de Poiss. are here brought together. 
X Zool. Trans, vol. i. p. 123. 
§ For illustration of this, see Cuv. and Val. Hist, des Poiss. pi. 300. Two 
species of Cepola from Japan, the C. limbata and C. marginata, are (as has been 
observed in this work, tome x. p. 403) figured by Krusenstern with the caudal 
fin contiguous to the dorsal and anal, as in the genus Anguilla. 
