10 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. SAMARAXG. 



The colour of the specimen, as preserved in spirits, is chocolate-brown, more or less 

 diluted on various parts of the body, and fading into white on the belly. A white band, 

 proceeding from the third and fourth dorsal spines, passes down the sides ; another crosses 

 the basal half of the tail. The ventrals and the sides between them and the pectorals are 

 covered with milk-white dots on a ground colour of blackish-brown. The pectorals are a little 

 less dark, and the vertical fins are dark brown towards their edges and extremities. The 

 extreme parts of the dorsal at the tips of the rays are white. Length, 3 inches. 



Hab. Sea of China. 



STHENOPUS MOLLIS, Richardson. 



Radii.— B. 6; D. 3-|; A. 1)9; C. llfj P. 15; V. 1|2. 



Plate II. Fig. 6-7. 



In profile, the outline of the face being very little elevated is a prolongation of the mo- 

 derately arched curve of the back, and the ventral line is nearly similar. AVhen the mouth is 

 closed, the nearly vertical lower jaw forms the obtuse fore end of the head, but the body 

 tapers considerably posteriorly, the height of the base of the caudal being only one third of 

 the height at the nape. The total length, caudal included, is equal to three times and three 

 quarters the height, and to six times and a half the thickness. The head is large in pro- 

 portion to the size of the fish, forming a third of the total length, and is high and compressed 

 with flat sides. The eye is small and high up, but does not interfere with the profile. The 

 space between the eyes equals the diameter of the orbit, and is occupied by three anterior 

 detached rays of the dorsal. The shaggy skin conceals all the bones of the head. A 

 transverse furrow is visible between the orbits and nostrils. The mouth descends almost 

 vertically from nearly the level of the eye. The maxillary, covered with loose shaggy skin, 

 shews a rather broad disk behind the premaxillary, which is in no way concealed when the 

 mouth is closed. The preorbitar is entirely hidden by the integuments, and on dissection is 

 found to be a small subulate bone with a soft tip, proceeding forward from the suborbitar 

 chain, which is very narrow and forms the under margin of the orbit. A narrow plate of 

 bone descends from the chain under the posterior part of the eye to the curve of the preoper- 

 culum, which is also concealed by the skin. The curve of the preopercidum is the segment 

 of an oval, the upper limb being very short, and its whole edge perfectly entire. The oper- 

 culum on dissection is seen to be thin and weak, with two inconspicuous ribs which end in 

 feeble points not at all pungent, and it has a concave edge between them. The narrow sub- 

 operculum curves up behind the operculum, and furnishes to the gill-cover a small elastic tip, 

 which points upwards, nearly on a level with the summit of the back, and encloses a small 

 round portion of the gill-opening when the gill-flap is closed. There are no pungent points 

 whatever on the head. The gill-opening is very large, and extends in the segment of a circle 

 from high on the shoulder down, and forwards to beneath the nostrils. The branchiostegous 



