PLATE LXXIt. 
Ozir enquiries after this curious anJ most interesting British Fish^ 
has ultimately proved successful, for we have lately obtained a spe- 
cimen of it in fine condition, that was caUghtofFthe Lizard point on 
the coast of Cornwall. The acquisition of this rare article is an 
object of no small importance, the species itself being not only ex- 
tremely uncommon, but the very existence of such a species having 
rested for almost a century, from the time of Ray to the present 
crisis, upon the sole autliority of Mr. Jago, the person by whom 
Jt IS recorded to have been discovered. He found it on the coast 
of Cornwall. A drawing of this Fish, made by Mr. Jago, wa* 
communicated by him to Mr. Ray, who inserted it, upon the 
credit of Mr. Jago, in his Synopsis of Fishes, and it does not seem 
to have been observed by any writer since that period till th® 
, present. 
Mr. Pennant speaks of this Fish in his British Zoology, confess- 
ing however, at the same time, that he never had an opportunity of 
examining it*, and is therefore obliged to have recourse to the 
description given of it by Mr. Jago, who thus describes it. « In the 
whole form of the body, lips, teeth, and fins, it resembles the Wrasse : 
Jt IS said never to exceed a palm in length : near the tail is a remarkable 
black spot : the first rays of the dorsal fin are tinged with black.”-^ 
“ The Melanurus of Rondcletius takes its name from the black 
spot near the tail; but in many instances it dtfters widely from 
• This expressions explicit, and in the words of Mr. Pennant; but in another part 
of the same description he tells us, ho suspects tjus species was sent to him from Cor»- 
'ralL See VoLS. p. 252. Brit. ZpqI, 
