118 "ENDEAVOUR" SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



half of the operculum. Anterior portion of snout naked Lips 

 broad and fleshy. Maxillary very oblique when the mouth is 

 closed ; its posterior margin is a little excavated, and the lower 

 angle somewhat produced. Teeth small and conical, forming two 

 irregular rows on the front of each jaw, and one on the sides ; 

 the symphysis of the upper jaw is toothless. Similar teeth 

 form a series across the head of the vomer. 



Scales of the sides of the body usually flat and imbricate, with 

 their margins turned outwards and armed with several very 

 strong teeth. On the nape and upper portion of the head, as well 

 as on the sides of the abdomen, they each have a median tubercle 

 which may be either low and blunt or acute ; on the ventral pro- 

 tile the scales are particularly rough owing to the great develop- 

 ment of the tubercles and marginal spines. On the side, below 

 the pectoral there are two rows of enlarged flat scales which are 

 irregular both in position and number, though there appear to 

 be about eight in each row. The lateral line is more or less 

 arched anteriorly, but descends to the median line of the body 

 and runs straight along the middle of the caudal peduncle. The 

 scales at the bases of the dorsal and anal fins are slightly en- 

 larged, and have their free edges strongly spinate. 



The dorsal spines are rather weak and deeply grooved ; the 

 first is very small, the second the longest, and the others 

 decreasing evenly backwards. The rays are all simple and in- 

 crease in length backwards to about the twentieth. The anal 

 spines are shorter than the dorsal ones, but the rays are similar 

 to, though a little longer than those of that tin. Veutrals inserted 

 slightly before the pectorals ; the spine is long and weak, and 

 the rays are divided with their margin rounded. Pectoral short 

 and broadly rounded, its rays simple. Caudal rays branched, 

 with their margin rounded. 



Colour. Brownish in formalin, the fins and naked skinny 

 parts darker than the rest. 



Described from a specimen 280 mm. long from the snout to the 

 end of the caudal fin. Seven others, 253-32r5 mm. long, were 

 trawled with it which show some little variation in the form of 

 the body. In the larger examples the dorsal profile is less 

 elevated before the dorsal fin than in the smaller ones, and some 

 are a little longer proportionately than others. The lengths of 

 the rays are also subject to some variation. 



Gilchrist's short description gives biit few details, but it would 

 seem that the Australian specimens differ from the African ones 

 in being somewhat longer, and in having the back elevated 

 before the dorsal fin instead of continuous with the line of the 



