128 
BLENNOID FOPtKBEARD. 
Lesser Halce, 
Phycis hleunoidea 
Pesnant; pi. 32, edition of 17.70. 
Guktuer’s Catalogue British Museum, 
Tol. iv, p. 361. 
It is the opinion of CuTier as -well as of Dr. Gunther that 
this and the last-named are the same species; and with such 
an authority we leave the subject as it stands; but it is 
certain that the as^iect of these fishes, as I am accustomed to 
see them, is not a little different^ as will be discerned from 
the figures we have given, which are those of an example 
that measured in length twenty-eight inches, and of a young 
one of the length of four inches, which was drawn up in 
the shell of a living Pinna ingens from the depth of about 
forty fathoms. It is remarkable that this young example, which 
will he described in reference to the larger specimen, and 
which, although injured, has been sent to the British Museum, 
with another of nearly like size mentioned by Mr. Yarrcll, 
were taken in the same manner, although with the lapse of 
several year’s between, are the only fishes I have ever known 
to be so caught, although the Pinnee are often drawn up by the 
lines of fishermen. The proportions of the body in what we 
term the Blennoid Forkbeard are more slender than what we 
have noticed in the Hake’s Dame; the depth of the body in 
the latter in front of the second dorsal fin, where it is deepest 
measuring one fourth of the length from the snout to the root 
of the tail, while in the Blennoid species it is equal to five 
portions and three fourths of the same length. In the first 
named fish also the sloping forward of the body begins behind 
the first dorsal fin, but in the Blennoid fish it scarcely begins 
to slope until over the eye; the under jaw also appeared 
decidedly shorter in proportion, and the lateral line less bent 
in its progress. It is a subject of regret that the scales were 
