An account of the Ophidium barbatum Linnei / by P.M. Augustus Broussonet ; communicated by Sir Joseph Banks.

  • Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet
Date:
1781
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the Ophidium barbatum Linnei / by P.M. Augustus Broussonet ; communicated by Sir Joseph Banks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    / fhort from any one part to another, would anfwer the fame purpofe ; but if you take the terms of the meafures, and compare them one with another, or ail of them to a fingle one, a method may be deduced for determining the fpecies, and defcribing each with accuracy, and that is the method which I ufed. Thère is ho doubt that filhes hâve a regnlar growth, and that ail their parts hâve a proportional increafe ; it is therefore of no confequence whether the meafure be taken from an old or a young fubjeâ:, it will be always of the famé ufe for determining the fpecies. The term to which I refer ail the reft, is taken from the diflance between the apex of the upper jaw, and the bafis of the fin of the tail. The extremity of the upper jaw is the point from which I take the dif- tance to ail the other parts. To détermine with more accuracy the jundlion of the fin to the tail, I incline the fin fo as to form an angle with the tail ; I take the diftances with a pair of compafîès, to avoid the irregularities of the furface of the body, which are infinitely varions. When I hâve taken the diftance with the compafîès, I make a reference to a rule, which-is divided in Englifli inches, each of them fub-divided in tenths. To exemplify ray pradice in a fifh of the fuppofed length of 40 Unes from the upper jaw to the tail, and from the famé point to the anus of 20 Unes, I fay, that the diftance from the head to the tail compared with the diftance from the head to the anus is in this fpecies as 40 to 20, which I exprefs in this manner: Le. : A 1: 40 : 20, which I thus reduce, Le. : A :: 10 : 5.. I then take the length from the upper jaw to the beginning of the dorfal * fin, and to its end : next from * I meafure the dorfal and anal fins at their bafis, never in their margin.
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