PLATE IX. 
■We believe the Dragonet is far from common, at least it is a local 
kind. The specimen from which the annexed figure is taken, was 
caught on the western coast, among Smelts. 
The predominant colour of this fish, when living, is a fine pellucid 
brown, with marks and spots of pale blue, white, yellow^, and black, 
disposed with peculiar elegance, and especially about the head and 
dorsal fin : the ventral fin is dark purple, which finely contrasts with 
the pellucidity and whiteness of the pectoral fin. The throat is 
black. 
The ventral fin consists of five rays : pectoral of twenty : first 
dorsal fin of four rays, the first very long : second dorsal ray of 
nine ; the last doubled up : anal fin nine rays, and caudal ten. 
