GREATER WEEVER. 4( 



The general form is long, narrow, and compressed, the 



example described measuring ten inches and three fourths in 



length, with a breadth (where widest) of one inch and five 



eighths. The head short, compressed, flat between the eyes, 



and rough on the summit; eyes on the fore part, high, with 



some short spines above them; nostrils single, near the eye, 



with a firm margin, terminated above and below by a small 



spine, the uppermost directed upward, the lower near the 



mouth, and inclining downward. Angle of the mouth depressed, 



under jaw projecting, numerous teeth in both jaws; tongue 



large. The hindmost gill-cover lengthened posteriorly, and 



furnished with a long and sharp spine, which is directed 



backward. The lateral line rises a little at first, passes along 



nearer the back, and sinks suddenly near the tail: two jslates 



with rough edges at its origin. The belly short, the vent 



being less than five inches from the front. Scales on the 



gill-covers and body. Dorsal fins seated in a. furrow; first 



dorsal short, beginning rather before the root of the pectoral, 



the second beginning close to the first, and reaching within 



a short distance of the tail. Pectorals low, wide, near the 



ventrals; the last-named fins close together, under the throat; 



tail a little incurved. Colour yellowish brown on the back, 



light purple below the eye; on the gill-covers yellow, with 



sometimes light blue stripes. The body covered with narrow, 



regular, intermingled brown and yellow lines, which run 



obliquely from the back below, and become lighter before 



they disappear. The fin rays generally extend beyond the 



membrane; the first dorsal black or deep brown, the second 



and the tail sometimes striped or mottled with yellow and 



brown. 



Fin rays first dorsal six, second dorsal thirty-one, pectoral 

 sixteen, ventral five, and caudal thirty-one. A Weever was 

 obtained from a trawl, with a remarkable deficiency in the 

 second dorsal fin, which failed at about the third posterior 

 portion of its length for the sjmce of an inch and a half. 

 There was no mark of a fin or its rays at that part, and the 

 intermediate bones, which stand between the fin rays and the 

 spinous processes of the vertebrse, were wanting; so that the 

 fish in fact possessed three dorsal fins. 



