PLATE LXXXVII. 
character so vaguely expressed cannot be depended on, the more espe- 
cially since recent observations have proved the fallacy of this cha- 
racter. Bloch found thirteen rays in the anal fin of his fish ; and 
the number in various specimens examined by ourselves to ascertain 
this point varied from fourteen to fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. Mr. 
Pennant neglected to count the rays in any of the fins, so that it is 
impossible to determine their number in the anal fin of his fish. The 
individual selected by us for representation contained seventeen rays 
in the anal fin. In the first dorsal fin were eight rays, in the second 
eleven : the pecoral fin contained thirteen rays : the ventral six ; and 
the tail, which is much furcated, fifteen. 
This fish is in season from March to the latter end of May, or 
beginning of June, when the spawning time commences. Sonnini 
observed this fish in the Archipelago, where we learn from his ac- 
count the modern Greeks call it Jtherinos, a name derived from its 
ancient appellation Atherina. They assemble, according to this au- 
thor, in vast shoals near the shores of most of the islands, and arc 
sometimes taken in prodigious quantities by a very simple device. A 
man being provided with a long stick, at the end of which is fastened 
a horse’s tail, or a piece of black cloth, walks along the shove in calm 
weather and trails it through the water. Ihc Atherines gather in a 
crowd round it, and follow its motions ; in this way they are con- 
ducted into some opening formed by two rocks, which is closed by a 
net fastened to two sticks, when the water is agitated, and the fishes 
secured by drawing the extremity of the net together. 1 he Athcrine, 
it is added by Sonnim, held tip to the light is diaphanous, and when 
dressed, even by frying, the spots or little black specks of its back are 
still very apparent, as well as the longitudinal stripe on the sides of 
the body, which become only blackish and more- narrow'. 
