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caught during the short stay of the Blossom : the former was also numerous. A species
of Clupea, of small size, with tbe abdomen ventricose, was also pretty abundant : it is
noticed as the Clup. Harengus.l Many individuals were also caught in the nets, of a
species of “ Gadus, L., resembling the Whiting, and having a pale smooth lateral line
extending from the posterior part of the gills, and passing half-way between the pectoral
and dorsal fins to a little beyond tbe anterior part of tbe second dorsal.” C.
Th e anatomy of this fish, so far as it was examined by Mr. Collie, resembled tbat of
the common Cod ; its stomach contained shrimps. Four species of Pleuronectes, L .,
were also caught : the PI. Hippoglossus?, of which only one young individual was seen ;
a second, apparently allied to ihe Pleur. Platessa, L., having “ a spinous line extending
from the posterior part of the eyes to the binder and upper part of tbe operculum, the
remainder of the head being smooth”—C.: a third, noticed as a variety of the last, but
having tbe “ head covered with rough slightly projecting tubercles”—C.; of these a considerable
number were caught in a small bay at the inner part of the entrance of
Avatscha Bay : and the Platessa stellata, Cuv., (Pleu r, stellatus, Pall.,) the scattered
scales of which are described as “ subpentagonal, set round with short blunt small
teeth”—C.; the only particular in which Mr. Collie’s short description differs from that
of Tilesius, is in the statement that “ the stomach is thin and membranous ; it contained
small fishes in a half-digested state”—C.; large quantities of it were caught at
the inner part of the entrance of the bay; the natives threw them away when taken in
their nets, but the voyagers found them tolerably good eating.
A specimen of the Balistes rectangulus, Schn., (Baliste écharpe, Lacép.,) brought
home by the expedition, is ticketed, but probably erroneously, as having been obtained
in Avatscha Bay.
Off St. Lawrence Island was caught in the dredge a fish apparently allied to the
genus Liparis, Art. I t had the “ ventral fins placed before the pectorals, but
united and continuous with them ; a flat, raised, and rough tubercle, of nearly the
diameter of an English sixpence, was seated forwards between the pectorals, its anterior
part reaching as far as the ventrals ; this may be of use in copulation : its coeca were
pretty numerous.”—C. The roughness of this tubercle renders it difficult to refer the
fish to any known species ; but it is probably nearly related to the Cyclopterus gelati-
nosus, Pall., a Liparis which is known to inhabit the seas in which this was obtained.
Th e existence of coeca removes it from Lepadogaster, Gouan.
Kotzebue Sound afforded a specimen of a new species of Ophidium, L ., the Oph,
Stigma.
On the coast of California, a little to the northwards of the harbour of San Francisco,
an Orthagoriscus was met with, apparently the Orth. Mola, Bl. They swam about
the ship with the dorsal fin frequently elevated above the surface.
A t Macao a species of Tetrodon, L., evidently new to science, was described both
by Mr. Collie and by Mr. Lay :—“ The middle of the lateral surface, the head, and
towards the tail, are smooth : the back and belly are spinous, the spines of the latter
part being longer than those of the back, but slender : the dorsal spines are confined to
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the space circumscribed by the nostrils, eyes, upper part of the pectoral, and anterior
part of the dorsal fins. Its nnder surface is rrhlte I t is marked across he back by
Lo ad brown stripes, (‘ the anterior directed towards the head, some forked, ™
a blot, the last in front of the dorsal fin passing to the base of the caudal - L . , ) the
two posterior bent and continued laterally to the ta il: there is one black » a ru /a under
the extremity of the pectoral flu as it lies quiescent by the side. The tris
with a reddish gold line above and below, at its junction with the sclerotic coat. The
H d s and head are beautifully vascular, and the numerous anastomoses are distinctly seen
(• Tbe dorsal and caudal fins are also tinged with blood’- L . ) There is a loose and
flabby bridge across each nostril, (‘ the nasal apertures are contiguous, and form an
obtuse angle with the eye and the corner o f the mouth.’—L.) A straw-^een tinge
exists on the posterior part of the back. I t was caught in the seme m the Typa, on a
muddy bottom.” The following anatomical remarks were m a d e : - “ A strong cmcular
muscle lies at the posterior part of the fauces, and its centre opens immediately b ^m d
into the large air cavity which is filled when the fish blows itself up. A t the pos erior
part of this cavity is situated the entrance to the asophagus; above it (the fish being
regarded as resting on its belly) is placed the heart, immediately behind the circular
muscle or sphincter; superior and posterior to it are the abdominal viscera. The mem-
brane which forms the cavity and contains the air is very fine. The gills are close to
the anterior part of the sphincter, and tbe air expelled from the abdominal cavity and
issuing out at the gills, occasions the peculiar sound which these fishes are often heard
to emit. On the air contained in the air-bladder, lime-water had no action ; phosphorus
absorbed 0.0625 ; and the remainder was not in the least inflamed on bringing a lighted
taper to its surface, nor did it support combustion: 10,000 parts consequently contained
625 of oxygen, and 9,375 of nitrogen.”—C.
In the same locality were obtained two fishes, apparently of the Scimnoid family.
“ The air-bladder was conical, pearly, tbe pearly substance placed between the membrane
forming ihe.peritoneum and that forming the air-bladder. Its sides were fringed
with beautiful pearly branching processes, which lie upon the parietes, and are raised
attached to the lining peritoneum when it is separated from the muscles at that part.”
The fish, the air-bladder of whicb is thus described, was probably the Umbrina Russelii,
Cu v .; its “ snout was obtuse; the upper intermaxillary extensile and p en d en t; a solitary
fleshy cirrus hung down from the chin; its cceca were pretty numerous: the
dorsal fin, it is true, is said to have been single, but that organ is in reality not so
deeply divided as to form distinctly two fins. The other species, the air-bladder ot
which resembled precisely that ju s t described, had “ a single dorsal fin; a rounded
caudal; a strong spine in front of the an a l; the upper maxillary less extensile; and
was marked by a line of light brown spots at the root of the dorsal fin.”—C. There
were also obtained two species of Pleuronectida; one a Plagusia, Cuv., “ dark clay-
coloured, with tuberculated lines on the head”—C., “ and three lateral lines”—L . : the
second was perhaps the Rhombus maculosus, Cuv.
During the stay of the Blossom among the Loo-Choo Islands, about twenty species of
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