420 MUR.ENID.E. 



fins causes the dorsal, anal, and caudal, to appear as one; 

 whilst, though they do join in Cepola rubescens, the last ray 

 of the dorsal and anal being much shorter than the outer rays 

 of the caudal, may at the same time be said to mark distinctly 

 the termination of each fin. In my specimen the anal fin 

 originates two lines in advance of the dorsal fin." 



In the form of the head, and in dentition, it differs so 

 remarkably from all the other genera as to render a compa- 

 rison with them unnecessary. Its absolute characters must 

 suffice for distinction. 



Description. " Total length eleven inches ; greatest depth 

 at one inch four lines from the snout, six lines, thence pos- 

 teriorly gradually narrowing ; greatest breadth of body an- 

 teriorly three lines ; at the middle of the entire length one 

 line, and thence to the tail becoming gradually more com- 

 pressed. Head one inch two lines long, or rather more than 

 one-ninth of the entire length ; profile sloping forward equally 

 on both sides to the snout, which is truncated, and projects 

 one line beyond the lower jaw ; narrow, increasing in breadth 

 very gradually from the snout, its breadth compared to its 

 length as one to three and a half; height half its length, com- 

 pressed at the sides, and rather flat above from the eyes back- 

 ward ; from the eyes forward a central bony ridge : snout 

 viewed from above somewhat bifid, in consequence of the for- 

 ward position of the large teeth on each side. A few large 

 punctures extend from the snout below the eye, and are con- 

 tinued just behind it ; a series of small ones closely arranged 

 extend from the upper portion of the eye in a curved form 

 posteriorly to near the edge of the preopercle, and thence a 

 double row extends downwards. Nostrils very large, placed 

 just in advance of, and before the centre of, the eye, and in 

 form a somewhat oval transverse aperture. Eye large, occu- 

 pying the entire half of the depth of the head ; its width 

 greater than its height ; in the length of the head occupying 



