30 Dr. Richardson's Contributions to 



a spherical triangle with the apex a little blunt.; the dorsal is much 

 more widely rounded, being the segment of an obtuse ellipse. The 

 finely grooved and toothed upper edge of the orbit projects a little, 

 rendering the forehead wider than the occiput or snout. The pre- 

 orbitar is oblong, with a convex under-border irregularly armed with 

 acute teeth. The ascending limb of the preoperculum is finely and 

 closely toothed ; the teeth are a little larger on the angle, and on the 

 lower limb they are more acute and farther apart. The operculum 

 is cut away in a wide and very shallow sinus, the points at its extre- 

 mities being bluntish. The membranous border is moderately broad. 

 The supra- scapular is toothed, and the scapula, which is more con- 

 spicuous, is more strongly and acutely serrated. The humeral is also 

 acutely toothed. The scales are strongly and closely furrowed on 

 the border and ciliated with teeth. The lateral line, traced on scales 

 smaller than the rest, forms an arc of a nearly circular curve, until 

 it comes opposite to the few last rays of the dorsal, when it changes 

 abruptly to a straight course through the tail. 



Rays :— D. 9|29 ; A. 3|18; C. 16f; P. 15 ; V. 1|5. 



The dorsal, anal and ventral spines are strong and moderately com- 

 pressed as in rostratus. The caudal is square at the end, with a slight 

 tendency to convexity. The scaly sheath envelops the spinous part 

 of the dorsal to the tips of most of the spines. It is the slight de- 

 velopment of this sheath in longirostris, together with the greater 

 size of the spines, which forms the most striking difference in the 

 shape of that species, exclusive of the greater length of its snout. 

 The first soft ray of the ventral tapers to a filamentous tip, similar to 

 that of the species just named. 



The colours cannot be certainly known from the dried specimen, 

 which is otherwise in good condition and presents three vertical 

 bands, all formed by narrow black borders enclosing a nearly even 

 stripe of a somewhat yellower tinge than the rest of the fish, but 

 not of a darker hue. The ocular band commences high on the 

 nape, passes through the eye, and terminates on the fore-part of 

 the interoperculum : it is wider on the cheek than above the eye. 

 The second band takes in the two first dorsal spines and terminates 

 at the ventral : its fore-border cuts the bony operculum vertically a 

 little anterior to its centre, and its hinder one passes down the 

 membranous edge of the gill-flap, the supra- scapular and scapula 

 being included in its breadth. The third band crosses the tail at the 

 base of the caudal. A narrow band of the same kind edges the 

 soft parts of the dorsal and anal, the caudal band just mentioned 

 forming a connecting link between the borders of the two fins. 

 The bands follow the contour of the fins exactly, the anal one being 

 somewhat angular and the dorsal one elliptical, and though they 

 are narrower than the vertical bands on the body, they have broader 

 interior black edges. There is not the slightest trace of the eyed 

 spot on the dorsal, or of the two vertical bands which cross the 

 body in rostratus, but there are faint longitudinal lines coincident 

 with the junctions of the rows of scales, the middle sections of the 

 scales being more silvery. Under the microscope the scales appear 



