298 A'l/res^ Descriptions of 



as the body of the intermaxillary turns off at nearly a right 

 angle to the pedicel, it follows that the mouth is transverse, 

 scarcely opening backward at all. It should not be inferred, 

 however, from this, that the maxillaries are small ; they are in 

 fact rather large, about as long as the intermaxillaries, and yet 

 they form no part of the opening of the mouth. Their upper 

 termination is immediately behind the angles of the inter- 

 maxillaries, and they descend on each side to a point below 

 the corner of the mouth and posterior to it, being covered in 

 part by the anterior sub-orbitar bone. They lie therefore en- 

 tirely posterior to the intermaxillaries, and are not connected 

 at all with them. When the jaw is thrust forward to its 

 greatest extent, the maxillaries remain unmoved. Nor is this 

 confined to a single species; I have (our, fasciata, multifas- 

 ciata, piscuhnta and flavula, and in all these the structure of 

 the mouth corresponds perfectly to what I have here men- 

 tioned. It will probably be found, therefore, common to the 

 whole genus. Another thing in which all the species seem to 

 agree, is in the scales on the top of the head. These are 

 large, with one in the centre, covering the others near it, all 

 its edges being free. 



Now in neither of these particulars does the species which 

 I have described (fuscus) correspond with the account here 

 given. The intermaxillaries are very short, and the sides of 

 the upper jaw are formed by the maxillaries. The anterior 

 frontal bone extends forward to the very extremity of the 

 head ; under the tip of it are the short intermaxillaries studded 

 with teeth, and extending from them downward are the 

 maxillaries destitute of teeth. The scaling also on the top of 

 the head does not differ materially from that of ordinary fishes. 

 This species, therefore, is apparently very distinct from Hy- 

 drargira ; and if it is not a Fundulus, I do not know where to 

 arrange it. The structure of the mouth would indeed appear 

 to separate it from the family of the Cyprinidce, in which, Cu- 

 vier says, the whole border of the upper jaw is formed by the 

 intermaxillaries, and yet it seems necessarily included in that 

 family. 



