20 Dr. Richardson^s Contributions to 



The suboperculum and interoperculum have entire margins. The 

 upper opercular spine is scarcely visible through the skin of the dried 

 specimen ; the acute point is all that shows of the under one : the 

 middle one is flat but pointed, and conspicuous enough. The third 

 dorsal spine is the highest, and equals the tallest of the soft rays ; 

 the others decrease very little in height, the last or eleventh being 

 only one -fifth shorter than the third, and nearly equal to the second : 

 the first is half the height of the third. The soft dorsal, like the 

 anal, is highest posteriorly, and both are moderately rounded. The 

 anal spines are strong, more particularly the second, which is also 

 rather the longest, and equal to the second dorsal spine in height. 

 Caudal much rounded. 



Rays:— P. 17; V. 1|5 ; D. 11|17 ; A. 3|9 ; C. 15f. 



The head forms somewhat less than one-third of the total length, 

 caudal fin included. Teeth on the jaws brush-formed, and, as in 

 most of the allied species, taller and more slender posteriorly. The 

 anterior row is short and conical, but, with the exception of one or 

 two small canine teeth near the symphysis, it is concealed by the 

 lips. 



The whole body and the vertical fins are covered with round, dark, 

 umber-brown spots, which correspond in size with those of Serranus 

 faveatus. The ground-colour is paler, and on the back and sides 

 appears like the threads of net, with round or slightly hexagonal 

 meshes, enclosing the dark round spots, which are largest on the 

 shoulders, and smaller on the tail and towards the belly. A space 

 between the gill-openings and anus, beneath the level of the pecto- 

 rals, is spotless, and was seemingly white in the recent fish. There 

 are about a dozen spots in a row, between the gill- opening and 

 caudal fin. No distinct spots are visible on the head ; but some parts 

 round the eye, about the jaws, and the edges of the pieces of the 

 gill- cover are darker than the rest. There are also some darker 

 shades towards the tips of the pectoral and ventral rays, but no spots 

 on these fins. 7''here are four rows of spots on the dorsal, the small- 

 est on the edge of the fin, and the largest along the base. On the 

 spinous portion of the fin the spots are less distinct, and the highest 

 row forms merely a black speck on the notched membrane behind 

 the tip of each spine. The anal is similarly marked : on the caudal 

 there are about six rows of spots. 



The scales of the body are moderate in size, or they may be desig- 

 nated as rather small, and they are much ciliated. Very minute 

 scales cover the membranes of the fins, and even encroach on the 

 rays. 



Serranus merra, judging from what is said of it in the 

 ^ Histoire des Poissons/ differs from the above in having scaly 

 jaws, a rounded preoperculum, very pointed opercular spines, 

 in wanting spots on the spinous part of the dorsal, and in the 

 numbers of the rays being different. S. faveatus approaches 

 nearer to our specimen in the numbers of its rays and in the 

 size of its spots, but il^has four large dark spots at the base 



