250 
DEALFISH. 
last eiglith shield the spines are longer, pointed, and of the 
same shape and size as the saw-teeth. Again, the three or four 
hindmost sheaths or plates are smaller and oval; and helow the 
last of them, or a little further back, on the lower side of the 
tail are two pair of spines, tvhich point downward; the first pair, 
which are the largest, having a direction forward, and the others 
backward. At the end of the lateral line are three double sjunes, 
beyond which it does not extend, as it appears to do in the 
figure of the Vaagmar by Reinhardt. The dorsal fin begins at 
about three inches from the neck, and becomes broader until 
it reaches its greatest breadth at its hindward third part, where 
it is five inches and a half in height; from which portion it 
becomes narrower as it proceeds to the tail; the rays number 
one hundred and sixty. In front of this fin were spines or 
broken rays, which perhaps were the remains of a fin. The 
pectoral fin is low, and measured in length two inches and a 
half, with ten simple rays; a spine in front of it. 
In the true Vaagmar, or Dealfish, there are ventral fins under 
the pectorals, but in the fish here described there was no mark 
of such; and although the part where they might be expected 
to be found was dissected, no signs of even the rudiments of 
such fins were discovered; (in which it agrees with the fish 
described by Dr. Fleming, as before referred to.) The caudal 
fin six inches and a half long, the rays, eight in number, 
directed obliquely upward. The eye of the left side less than 
that of the right. The colour of the head blackish on the top, 
of the light s.de of the head and body a glossy silver, which 
is removed when the skin is handled; of the left side pale grey, 
with dashes of glossy silver. Dorsal and caudal fins red. The 
two oblique oblong black spots which are on the sides of the 
Dealfish near the back are not seen in the fish here described; 
but in place of them is a black dash parallel with the upper 
border of the body. According to the reports of fishermen this 
fish is sometimes found ten feet in length. As in the figure by 
Dr. Fleming, the vent is represented as near the head, and the 
representation we derive from Professor Reinhardt displays that 
outlet as about the middle of the body, there seems no doubt 
that, taken in connection with other particulars, they apply to 
two different fishes; of which there is reason to conclude that 
both of them have been taken in the British Islands. 
