12 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OE H.M.S. SAMAEANG. 



The bead forms one third of the length of the fish, caudal excluded, or less than a fourth, 

 including that fin. Its length exceeds the greatest depth of the body, and is twice its own 

 height at the occiput. The eye is moderately large, forming a fourth part of the length of 

 the head. It is placed one diameter of the orbit from the tip of the snout, two diameters 

 from the apex of the gill-flap, and encroaches slightly on the upper profile. The nostrils are 

 minute orifices without cirrhi before the eye, the anterior one being near to the end of the 

 snout, and the posterior one more removed from the orbit. The space between the eyes is 

 equal to almost two thirds of the diameter of the orbit, is covered with smooth skin, and is 

 flatfish. The preorbitar has a smooth under edge, curved in the segment of an ellipse ; the 

 rest of the suborbitar chain is concealed by the integuments ; but a smooth, moderately wide 

 process crosses the cheek from under the eye to the hollow of the preoperculum. This latter 

 bone is curved, and its narrow disk, whose under edge is somewhat uneven, is also covered 

 by the integuments continued from the cheek, so as not to be apparent in the recent fish : 

 a little above the curve, there is a small, narrow, flat, obtuse spine or process, projecting from 

 the upper limb of the bone. The interoperculum is rather narrow, flexible, and smooth. 

 The operculum, of a triangular form, ends in an obtuse, thin point, which is not at all 

 pungent, and is wholly concealed by the flexible, narrow, prolonged end of the suboperculum, 

 that forms a conspicuous tip to the gill-cover. The gill-opening is pretty large, although it 

 is restricted above by a membrane which runs from the tip of the suboperculum, and binds 

 the gill-cover to the nape. The gill-membrane is also united to its fellow beneath and plays 

 free over the isthmus, to which it is connected only at the root of the tongue. It is sustained 

 by six pretty long, slender, curved rays on each side, and, when fully expanded, is convex 

 externally. The mouth is horizontal, with a pretty large gape, though it does not extend so 

 far back as the orbit. The under jaw is rather the longest. The margin of the mouth is 

 formed by the premaxillaries and the mandible, and both are armed by villiform bands of 

 teeth, which are broadest at the symphyses, where there are four or five teeth in the breadth 

 of the bands ; the individual teeth, when examined by the aid of a lens, appear to be subulate 

 and acute. The projecting chevron of the vomer is similarly armed, and there are more 

 minute ones covering the narrow edges of the palatine bones. The tongue is hemispherical 

 and smooth. There are four branchial leaves and a small single one attached to the gill- 

 plate. Each arch is armed interiorly by two rows of small, obtuse, sessile processes ; and 

 the posterior branchial leaf is bound to the shoulder by membrane, leaving only four openings 

 from the gullet. The maxillary bone is closely bound by integument to the pre-maxillary 

 its whole length, and glides partly under the edge of the preorbitar : its lower end is wider 

 and truncated. 



The skin is smooth and scaleless, and the lateral line, which is composed of a series of 

 short tubes, is much arched over the pectoral, and quite straight for the remainder of its 

 course to the caudal fin. 



The first dorsal is arched, the fourth and fifth rays being the tallest, and the last one 



