376 Mr. Bennett's Observations on Fishes. 



specks, approaching to niveous, of various sizes, and in some indi- 

 viduals very numerous. 



The lips are furnished with cirrhi^ which are frequently 

 branched at their extremities. On the upper lip these are chiefly 

 confined to the centre, immediately above which, at the base of 

 the anterior process of the head, is a longer filament, bearing at its 

 tip a rather large tuft, formed of the extremely numerous and 

 minute subdivisions of its terminal club. The cirrhi of the lower 

 lip extend round the whole of its margin. Similar cirrhi are 

 continued from the angles of the mouth along the projection 

 formed by the edge of the lower jaw, and others extend from 

 its centre along its middle line towards the ventral fins. Behind 

 these again, the edges of the abdomen are similarly fringed as 

 far as the anal fin. 



On the head are two processes. The first bears at its base the 

 nasal filament, which it exceeds in length : it is articulated at its 

 base to the subjacent bone, and is unconfined by membrane : it is 

 furnished, especially on its sides, and towards its tip, with nu- 

 merous short, floccose, cirrhi. Behind this, almost on the vertex^ 

 is the second process : it is longer than the preceding one, which 

 it resembles in its articulation, in its cirrhi^ and in their situation, 

 but is affixed behind to the vertex by a membranous expansion of 

 the skin, which extends throughout its whole length. 



The whole of the fins project considerably from the body. The 

 supports of the pectoral ones are very long, resembling arms : 

 those of the ventral appear as though united into a single one, 

 bearing a strong resemblance to the keel-like process, or single 

 ventral fin, of the species of Baltstes, L. The caudal fin is 

 rounded. 



Length 1| in. Breadth ^ in. 



Described from four specimens preserved in spirit, in the col- 

 lection of the Zoological Society. There is no locality attached 

 to these. They were purchased in 1823, by Mr. Vigors, at a sale 

 in Piccadilly, of subjects in Natural History, the greater number 

 of which were from the Cape of Good Hope. The specimens 

 before us may be from the same country, but there is no certainty 

 on the subject. 



