4 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. SAMARANG. 



APISTES COTTOIDES, Linn. (Perca.) 



Perca cottoides, Lin. Mus. Ad. Pr. vol. xi. p. 84. « 



Apistes cottoides, Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. vol. iv. p. 413. 

 Radii.— B. 6 ; D. 14|6 ; A. 3)8 ; C. 11 1 ; P. 6 et viii.; V. 1|4. 



Plate III. Fig. 6-7. 



Our specimens agree with the Linnaean account of Perca cottoides in all respects, except 

 that they have only six gill rays instead of eight, which latter number I consider to be a 

 mistake ; and in the rows of spots on the fins being more numerous than two. This also 

 may be accounted for by a partial effacement of the markings, and I have therefore considered 

 the specimens as examples of the species described by Linnaeus. 



The head is thick and large, with a considerably arched profile. It forms more than one 

 third of the total length, while the height of the body scarcely exceeds the fourth. The 

 thickness is a little more than half the height. The diameter of the eye is equal to oue 

 quarter of the length of the head. The principal preorbitar spine reaches to beneath its 

 centre, and is thrice as long as the smaller spine, which lies parallel to it, and is quite 

 straight. The second-suborbitar ridge is visible only when the integuments are suffered to 

 dry. It is flat, quite unarmed, and runs close to the orbit. The preoperculum is armed by 

 four small spines, the upper one being the largest but not equalling the preorbitar spine ; there 

 is also an obtuse corner under the lowest spine. This bone is better described by the 

 passage " opercula branchiarum spinoso-serrata " in this species than in any other Apistes 

 that we have seen. The two ribs of the bony operculum can scarcely be detected, and 

 present no pungent points. Neither are there any acute points on the suprascapular. The 

 jaws and the acute prominent chevron of the vomer are armed by villiform teeth, rather 

 coarser than in the other Apistes we have figured, and tliis species differs from them in the 

 palatine bones being entirely toothless. The scales of the body, though small, are visible to 

 the naked eye, and are more crowded or tiled than in some others of the genus. They are 

 wanting above the lateral line as far back as the fifth or sixth dorsal spine, and a narrower 

 smooth space extends along the base of the dorsal its whole length. The head is also quite 

 destitute of scales. The lateral line, formed of a series of short tubes, is straight, and about 

 one third of the height distant from the summit of the back. 



The first dorsal spine stands between the anterior corners of the orbit. The third is 

 the tallest, being equal to four fifths of the height of the body, and is almost twice as 

 high as the first one. The membrane is notched between the spines. The soft dorsal is 

 rounded, lower than the last spine, and ends opposite to the anal at some distance from the 

 caudal. The membrane which connects the last rays to the tail is smaller than in most 

 Apistes. The pectorals are rather oblique, and their eight lower rays have simple, thick, 

 and prominent tips, the others being forked at the ends. The ventrals have only four- rays. 

 The caudal is even at the end. 



