ANACANTHINl. 369 



in regard to the genus. I have tried in vain to find a speci- 

 men of it in our public museums. 



Description of G. viridis. 



Form. Much like that of an eel. Head roundish ; body 

 slightly compressed, its width being little less than its height, 

 and the back narrower than the belly, Avhich is tumid ; be- 

 yond the anus the compression gradually increases, so that the 

 tail resembles the blade of an acute-pointed two-edged sword. 

 The length of the head is contained five times and a half in 

 the total length of the fish. Nostrils piercing the side of the 

 snout close to the premaxillary, one of each pair being shortly 

 tubular. Mouth at the extremity of the head, but the man- 

 dible is just perceptibly longer than the premaxillary. A sin- 

 gle row of small teeth exists on both these bones, the rows 

 being doubled irregularly close to the symphyses above and 

 below. There is also a row of minute palatine teeth, but none 

 on the vomer. The teeth are short and slender, but not very 

 acute, and are not crowded except at the symphyses; they 

 number about eighteen on each premaxillary and limb of the 

 mandible, and about half as many on each palatine. 



Eyes small, very much nearer to the tip of the snout than 

 to the gill-opening, and separated from each other by a narrow 

 smooth space, which appears depressed, owing to the eyeballs 

 swelling above the profile of the forehead. No spinous points 

 exist on the head. 



Gill-openings small, and descending no lower than to the 

 upper ray of the pectorals. A small triangular apex of the 

 gill-flap projecting across the opening cuts off, towards the 

 temples, a rounded portion, as may be noticed in Plate VII. 

 fig. 1, and better as to form in Plate VIII. The skin connect- 

 ing the limbs of the mandible and covering the branchio- 

 stegous rays is evenly continuous with that of the belly, with- 

 out forming any transverse fold or free edge between the 

 gill-openings, such as exists in Gunnellus. 



Branchiostegous rays six, round, tapering and curved, pretty 

 large and readily seen. 



