plate kxxxvii. 
Peaces have hitherto proved fruitless. On the eastern coasts we have 
Pretty good authority for believing it is not found, or at least in any 
number as at Southampton. 
The author of the British Zoology, Mr. Pennant, rather mistakes 
thc or dmary size of the Atherine, in stating its length at only four 
•nchcs and one fourth, those of moderate dimensions being from five to 
SlX lnches lon g- The heacl is broad, flatfish, very sloping in front, 
a nd marked down the center with an interrupted carena or ridge : the 
g'H covers silvery, and the rest of the head pellucid and speckled with 
fuscous. Tire body is about the thickness of the common smelt, and 
ls tinged with a variety of delicate tints as in that fish, the upper parts 
°nl v inclining more to pale testaceous, or yellowish brown. The 
sca les on the back seem at first glance of a lozenge form; on close 
^spection these appear obtusely circular and marked near the edge, or 
°uter margin, with a series of dusky dots, which from their disposi- 
tion give the whole back the appearance of being reticulated by ob- 
IC l Ue '' nes °f dots > those dots are sometimes confusedly broken, and 
are larger or smaller on different parts of the same fish, but in all are 
*° diStinct, y marked as give the back the subreticulated appearance 
s 6f ° i re mentI °ned. All the fins, except the ventral, are very delicately 
tPecJtjd with fuscous. The lateral Stripe is silvery, changeable in 
d . e S lat,C 10 steel hlue > and marked down the middle with a longitu- 
s mal S6nes of litde elevations which constitute the lateral line. This 
^ P e on the sides is straight as Mr. Pennant mentions : we could 
nCVer h °wever discover the row of black dots beneath it, which this 
Wr h er describes in his fish. 
crit nna2US ’ Wko cons iders the number of rays in the anal fin as a 
lC ' IOn of t!lls s peeies, states them at “ about twelve a specific 
VOL.lv. 
