hairtail. 
63 
and thmj tail long, sleader, pointed, and without a fin; above 
and below sharp. Vent much nearer the head than the tail; 
opening of the mouth cut far back, but not capable of being 
thrown very wide. Lower jaw pointed, longer than the upper; 
nostril single, open, nearer the eye than the snout; eyes rather 
large, nearer the snout than to the border of the gill-covers, 
which latter are oblong. Gill-openings very wide, reaching 
nearly up to the end of the lower jaw. Teeth in a single 
row, of Irregular height and distribution; lateral line wide, 
beginning on the upper border of the gill-cover, but bending 
down towards the pectoral fin, and thence straight backwards. 
Dorsal fin very long, beginning at the back of the head, and 
ending without approaching the extremity of the body. In 
place of an anal fin, from the vent backward, a number of 
slender points, of which those behind are directed forward, and 
those nearest the vent are directed backward. The tail is long 
and slender, compressed, and pointed. 
Ihe example we have the pleasure of introducing to the 
notice of ^ the reader, and of which our figure is the only 
representation that has been derived from an undoubted British 
^ecimen, was thrown on shore on the sand of the Whitsand 
Bay, near the Land’s End, in Cornwall, in the month of April, 
1853; and was only defective in the loss of that slender portion 
which was behind the dorsal fin, and which appeared to have 
been bitten oflf. Exclusive of this it measured about two feet 
three inches; depth at the pectoral fin two inches; at the 
termination about five eighths of an inch; from the point of 
the under jaw to the vent twelve inches and a half; thus 
remarkably distinguishing it from the example described by 
Mr. Hoy, where in a fish three feet two inches in length the 
vent was distant only two Inches from the gills. From the 
point of the upper jaw to the eye two inches and a quarter; 
the eye large, high on the side of the head; under jaw longest, 
slit of the mouth far back. Teeth long, irregular, scattered, 
locking together; one at the extremity of the lower jaw prom- 
inent, and not received into the mouth. Border of the gill- 
cover running back into a pointed oval, five inches and six 
eighths from the point of the snout. Lateral line begins high 
over the gill- covers, and descends gradually at about the end 
of the pectoral fin; from thence straight to the tail. Pectoral 
