The Rev. R. T. Lowe on the Fishes d/ Madeira. 405 in the latter, and on which the peculiar value of this species seems to depend, is a large spindle-shaped organ about half the length of the fish, thick in the middle and tapering toward the extremities, where it ends in front by two, and behind by a single tendinous cord; similar small tendinous attachments, about twenty-two in number, connect it on either side to the upper and lateral parts of the abdominal cavity. This organ, which is called the sound, is to be removed, opened,' and stript of a thin vascular membrane which covers it both within and without, washed perhaps with lime water and exposed to the sun, when it will soon become dry and hard ; it may require some further preparation to deprive it of its fishy smell, after which it may be drawn into shreds for the purpose of render-ing it the more easily soluble. The fish which I examined weighed about two pounds and yielded about sixty-five grains of Isinglass, not quite pure, but containing about 10 per cent, of albuminous matter, owing perliaps to the individual from which it was taken being young and out of season, and not above a tenth part of the ordinary size of the species. But the solution after having been strained appeared to be equal to that of the best Isinglass, which costs in Calcutta from twelve to sixteen rupees a pound. As the subject thus seemed to be of consequence, I gave a portion of the substance in question to Dr. O'Shaughnessy for its chemical ex-amination. Calcutta, 3rd May, 1839. LI. — A Supplement to the Synopsis of the Fishes of Madeira* in the Second Volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society. By the Rev. R. T. Lowe. Fam. Percid^. Genus Callanthias. Gen. char. — Head scaly, except the short muzzle before the eyes ; teeth as in Anthias, Bl. ; preopercle perfectly entire ; opercle with two flat adpressed spines ; lateral line high up, near the back, and ending at the end of the dorsal fin, which is even or continuous ; branchiostegous membrane with six rays. Callanthias paradis^us. A most elegant little fish ; in general habit and colouring resembling Anthias sacer, Bl., but without the produced third spine of the dorsal fin. Its analogies are singularly complicated, but its affinities are truly Percidous. By Bloch it might * Read before the Zoological Society, May 28, 1839.
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