SPOTTED GUNNEL. 271 



longer ; the teeth placed in a single row in each jaw, small, 

 short, pointed, and sharp, each tooth separated from the next 

 by a space equal to the breadth of the tooth itself ; the eyes 

 lateral, moderate in size, the irides dark blue ; the cheeks 

 tumid, from the size of the muscles, Avhich enable it to bite 

 hard. The membrane connecting the opercula continuous 

 under the throat ; a row of mucous pores descending from the 

 nape to the upper edge of each operculum. 

 The number of fin-rays is 



D. 78 : P. 11 : V. 1 + 1 : A. 2 + 43 : C. 15. 



In long fins of numerous rays, the number, it should be 

 remarked, is at all times liable to variation, and it is not, it 

 may be added, always alike even in those species with short 

 fins. 



The dorsal fin commences a little behind the line of the 

 origin of the pectoral fin, and extends the whole length of 

 the back, joining the tail : both the rays and the membranes 

 of this fin are short, or but little elevated, but all the rays 

 project their sharp points beyond the edge of the membrane.. 

 The pectoral fin, small and oval in shape, arises immediately 

 behind the free edge of the operculum ; the ventral fins are 

 very small, near each other, on the under part of the throat, 

 and appear each like a single sharp spine projecting through 

 a small fleshy tubercle partly supported by one soft ray. 

 The vent is situated under the thirty- fourth ray of the dorsal 

 fin, at about an equal distance between each extremity of the 

 fish ; the anal fin commences immediately behind the vent, 

 and extends to the tail, to which it is united ; the rays as 

 well as the membranes in this fin are longer and deeper than 

 those of the dorsal fin ; the first two rays are spinous, but the 

 others, which are branched and articulated, project further 

 beyond the edge of the membranes. The tail fin is moderate 

 in size, and slightly rounded. The lateral line proceeds 



