QjO C O U Y I 
men, after taking the young, flmt them up in pools, 
where they pretgnd that an increafe of their fize is per¬ 
ceivable every day. Their flefh is well-tafted, and they 
grow four or five feet long; they are extremely vora¬ 
cious, and principally chace the flying-fifh, which, as the 
dorado fwims very quick, endeavours to efcape by dart¬ 
ing into the air : but this does not avail ; for the dorado 
waits open-mouthed till his prey falls back into the wa¬ 
ter, which mud be the cafe as foon as the alar fins are 
dry. They follow veflels to feed upon what is thrown 
overboard ; and they feem to fwallow whatever comes in 
their way ; for Plumier found in the ftomach of one of 
thefe lifli four nails, the biggeft of which was five inches 
long F he has left drawings of them all in his manufcript. 
Thefe fifli approach the rocky fliores in autumn to depo- 
fit their fpawn, and are then caught plentifully in nets. 
After this time they keep in the open fea, and are caught 
but feldom ; the mode is then to angle for them with a 
ground-line, baited with a flying fifh, either natural or 
artificial. This fifh will dart fometimes five or fix feet 
above the furface of the water. It has twenty vertebrae, 
and feven ribs on each fide. 
3. Coryphasna caerulea, the blue coryphena : the fpe- 
cific character is its being entirely blue. There are very 
few filh like the prefent, of one uniform colour; and it 
is almoft the only one which is entirely blue. There are 
four rays in the membrane of the gills, fourteen in the 
pectoral fin, five in the ventral, eleven in the anal, nine¬ 
teen in the tail, and the fame number in the dorfal. Its 
head is fhaped fomewhat like that of the fpermaceti 
whale. The dark blue of the back grows lighter towards 
the belly, as is the cafe indeed with mod fifties. The 
head is large, and the upper part, as well as the cheeks 
and the operculum of the gills, are furnifhed with (tales. 
The mouth is wide, with a row of ftrong teeth in each 
jaw, handing a part fo as to fhut into each other. The eyes 
are large and round ; the pupil black, the iris white, yel¬ 
low, and orange. The aperture of the gills is wide ; the 
membrane half concealed by the covert, which is one 
fingle piece. The trunk is laterally compreffed, and co¬ 
vered with large fcales ; the back round; the belly ema¬ 
nated. The pectoral, ventral, and tail, fins, have branched 
rays, the dorfal and anal fimple ones. This fpecies in¬ 
habits the waters of America; Catefby obferved it at 
Bahama and in the tropical fea, and Plumier at the An¬ 
tilles ; but neither of thefe writers have availed them- 
Telves of the opportunity theytnuft have had for giving 
the natural hiftory of this filh, the quality of its flefh, 
time of fpawning, how taken, its food, &c. It grows 
from two to three feet long; and, by the conftruction of 
its mouth, it muft be of the rapacious kind. 
4. Coryphasna Plumieri, the fea-peacock : fifty-five 
rays in the anal fin form the fpecific charafter. There 
are four rays in the membrane of the gills, eleven in the 
peftoral fin, fix in the ventral, fixteen in the tail, and 
feventy-feven in the dorfal. The body is long; the head 
oblong, broad at the top, deftitute of fcales, and of a 
brown colour; it is yellow about the eyes, and filvery 
on the cheeks. The mouth is large ; jaws of equal length, 
furnifhed with ftrong teeth ; the upper lip remarkably 
broad. The pupil of the eye is black, the iris double, 
white and red ; before and under the eye are fome blue 
ftreaks. The gill-covert is fingle; the aperture large ; 
the membrane uncovered, and fupported by bony arched 
rays. The body is covered with fmall fcales ; the back 
round, of a brown colour, ornamented with elegant blue 
ftripes of a ferpentine fliape; the fides are gold-yellow, 
and the belly like fslver. The peftoral and ventral fins 
have a yellow ground with a grey border ; the dorfal is 
violet-colour, the anal draw-colour, and both are very 
long; the tail-fin is yellow at the fides, red in the mid¬ 
dle, and dark blue at the extremity. This beautiful fifh 
is found in the dreams of the Antilles ; it attains a con¬ 
siderable fize. Its curious and bright colours have gained 
it the name of mecrpfau, paon de mer , or fea-peacock. Bloch, 
II JE N A. 
who copied it from Plumier’s manufcript, calls it Cory, 
p’arzna Plumieri. 
5. Corypl,iaena rupedris, the long-tailed coryphena : a 
very long pointed tail, and two dorfal fins, conditute the 
fpecific character. This filh has efcaped the notice of 
all the ancient naturalids, and of Arteduis and Linnaeus 
among.the moderns. Egede firft made it known, in 1741, 
in his Natural Hiftory of Greenland ; and he regarded it 
as a fpecies of bream ; other writers have placed it among 
the bleiinies, the coryphrena, See. but it feems to have 
characters which didinguifh it from all other genera of 
the thoracic clafs, To that Bloch thought proper to 
create a genus on purpbfe for it, in which he is followed 
by Cepede; but Gmelin has placed it in this genus. It 
has feven rays in the membrane of the gills, nineteen in 
the pedtoral fin, feven in the ventral, one hundred and 
forty-eight in the anal, eleven in the firft dorfal, and one 
hundred and twenty-four in the fecond. The head is 
large, broad on the top, and terminates in a fnout or nofe. 
The mouth is large; the upper jaw armed with five rows 
of little (harp teeth, bent backwards, and the lower has 
two rows of a fimilar nature. The tongue is white, 
gridly, thick, flippery, and dtort; the palate fmooth; 
eyes round, and very large ; pupil black, iris filvery. 
The gill-covert is fingle, and enclofed in a membrane ; 
the aperture is wide, the membrane uncovered ; its rays 
are (tiff, broad, and hooked. The body is defended with 
large hard fcales, which are all raifed at one end, fer- 
rated, and end in a fpine ; fo that, palling the hand from 
the tail upwards, its body, is rough, and wounds the fin¬ 
gers ; the fcales of the head are more rugged than thofe 
on the body. The general colour of the fifh is a light fil¬ 
very blue. The fins are yellowifh, and edged with blue ; 
the firft ray of the firft dorfal is long and ftiff, and fer- 
rated in front; the reft, as well as thofe of the pettorals 
and ventrals, are branched ; the anal and fecond dorfal 
are very long, with fimple foft rays, and join at the tip 
of the tail. This fifh is found' in deep places in dif¬ 
ferent parts of Greenland, efpecially in that of Tunnud- 
liorbik. It grows a yard long, and fpawns in autumn, or 
in winter. It is caught with a ground-line; and when 
hooked, it-fwells with rage in iucli a manner, that its 
large eyes feem ready to ftart out of its head, and gives 
it a fierce afpect. The flefh is much efteemed in Green- 
land and Iceland. It has thirteen ribs on each fide. 
6. Coryphsena velifera, the fail-fifh : fpecific charac¬ 
ter, dorfal and anal fins very large, ventrals fmall : it 
has feven rays in the membrane of the gibs, fifty-five in 
the dorfal fin, fourteen in the pedtorals, one in each 
ventral, fifty-one in the anal, and twenty-two in the tail. 
Cepede has feparated this fpecies not only from the ge¬ 
nus, but from the order of thoracic fifties, placing it 
among the jugulars ; he calls the genus ogliopodus, from 
the fmallnefs of the ventral fins, which, whether tho¬ 
racic or jugular, confift but of a fingle ray. Pallas firft 
deferibed it from a f'pecimen brought to him from the 
fouth part of the Indian ocean. The body is very long 
and narrow, and almoft concealed by the large dorfal fin 
which rifes like a fail, and the extenfive anal fin which 
ferves as a counterpoife to it. The body is a light grey; 
the fins brown, fpotted with white : head covered with 
fmall fcales ; the lower jaw turns up, and is furnifhed with 
two rows of teeth, the upper with one. The two firft: 
rays of the dorfal fin are very ftiort, three-fided, and 
bony ; the firft ray of the anal is alfo a fliort fpine, the 
fecond a long one. On each fide of the body and tail is 
a row of large thin ftriated fcales perforated at the top, 
and raifed at the bale into a kind of point which lodges 
in the hole of the fcale above it. The body is fliort, and 
the anus very near the throat, and hence it is poffibie fur 
the anal fin to occupy fuc-h an extent. 
7. Coryphtena pompilus, the pom'pilus; fpecific cha¬ 
racter, the lateral line curved, and yellow ftripes above 
it ; the dorfal fin has thirty-three rays, the pedtorals 
fourteen, ventrals fix, anal twenty-four, tail fixteen. 
This 
