242 MUOILID.E. 



by the tide. This species has, like the other, the habit of 

 escaping from a net by leaping over the head-lines. The 

 length of the specimen was ten inches : the head wide, de- 

 pressed ; eyes one inch apart, and three-eighths of an inch from 

 the angle of the mouth, not connected with any membrane ; 

 nostrils close together, and, while the fish is alive, moveable on 

 each contraction of the mouth : a prominent superior maxillary 

 bone minutely notched at its lower or posterior edge ; upper lip 

 protuberant and fleshy, with a thin margin minutely notched 

 or ciliated ; the lip appears behind as projecting under the 

 maxillary. Carina of the under jaw prominent and square ; 

 edge of the lower lip fine and simple. Body solid, round 

 over the back : pectoral fins high on the side, pointed, 

 rounded below, the first rays short. The first dorsal fin five 

 inches and three-eighths from the snout, the origin of the 

 first three rays approximate, the first ray the longest ; the 

 first two rays of the anal fin short : tail broad, concave ; scales 

 large. Colour of the head and back greenish ; all besides 

 silvery, with six or seven parallel lines along the sides, of the 

 same colour as the back." The number of fin-rays are 



D. 4. 9 : P. 14 : V. 1 + 5 : A. 3 + 8 : C. 16. 



The figure of this fish is taken from the Fauna Italica of 

 the Prince of Musignano, who attaches to this species the fol- 

 lowing specific characters : 



" Head of moderate size, subtruncated in front ; upper lip 

 thickened, under lip very slightly margined ; the descending 

 portion of the maxillary bone projecting below the suborbital 

 bone ; the space between the edges of the interopercula very 

 narrow ; the rays of the spiny dorsal fin longer than the half 

 of the depth of the body." 



The characters of M. chelo, as given by Cuvier in the 

 Regne Animal, are, that it is distinguished particularly by 

 its very large and fleshy lips, the edges of which are ciliated, 



