rONGER. 
347 
proof of the exquisite sensibility of these parts in tlieir various 
functions; and the tongue admits of free action by means of 
muscles which pass from it to the front, and also backward to 
the beginning of the gullet. The stomach is long, but the 
pyloric or lower orifice is near the entrance from the mouth; 
air-bladder large, inflated, but not the full length of the cavity 
which contains it; a duct or process from the surface is joined 
to it, but its use scarcely appears obvious. 
This fish is liable to some remarkable varieties of structure, 
among Avhich has occurred a deficiency of the upper jaw bone 
or snout, with the absence of the nasal plaits and barbs. But 
a more frequent deformity is in the dorsal fin, which sometimes 
begins far back, with its anterior end trvined into a roll or 
double circle; and on other occasions this fin is absent almost 
as far back as the tail; which appears to have been the cause 
of a mistake in supposing the A. myrus, or Ophis, natives of 
the Mediterranean, to have been taken in England. When, as 
sometimes happens, the tail ends abruptly, it seems to have 
been caused by violence or accident. 
