Volume 2

The history of British fishes / [Robert Hamilton].

  • Hamilton, Robert, M.D.
Date:
[1876]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of British fishes / [Robert Hamilton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    relative position of the fins. The pectoral fin reaches to the plane of the commencement of the dorsal; the ventral fin is in a vertical line with the last ray of the dorsal, and the adipose fin is placed so far hack, that its posterior edge nearly reaches the origin of the tail; the latter deeply forked; scales large and deciduous, the lateral line prominent and nearly straight; general colour dull umber, the gill-cover, silvery, and two rows of silvery scales below the lateral line, forming bands like those observed in the Atherine. Gen. LXVII. Thymallus. In this genus we perceive a considerable departure from the charac- ters of the types of this family, namely the Salmones, especially in the small mouth, the opening to which, when viewed in front, is square; and in the size of the dorsal fin, which is more than half the height of the body (Cuvier says it is equal to the body in height), and twice as long as high. The teeth are very fine and velvet-like; the hranchiostegous rays seven or eight; the scales rather large. Several fine species are found in North America, but the only one observed in Europe is (Sp. 133.) T. vulgaris. The Grayling. This fish varies in length from seven or eight to fifteen or eighteen inches, and in weight from half a pound to four or five pounds. The back rises rather suddenly a little behind the head, and the deepest part of the body is at the commencement of the dorsal fin, from which point it tapers off to the tail, which is by no means possessed of the strength of the same part in