110 SCORP-ENID.E. 



being of that dermal system to which Cuvier, after Bakker^, assigns the name of 

 Supertemporals. Of the three supraorbitary prickles, the first and third, at the 

 fore and hind corners of the eye respectively, are strong and more or less re- 

 curved : the second or middle one is obsolete. Between the orbits run two faint 

 bony even ridges ; which after giving oft' a little behind, but on a line within, 

 the third supraorbitary spine, another single slightly recurved prickle, diverge, and 

 terminate upon the nape in a conspicuous pair of firm-fixed recurved spines, placed 

 one before the other ; the hinder being very large and strong. A solitary, nearly 

 erect, or conic spine, stands over or within the inner edge of each fore-nostril. 

 The anterior suborbitary is strongly ribbed ; the ribs from four to six in num- 

 ber, diverghig obliquely two and two in pairs, upwards and downwards, from 

 its base or articulation behind with the next suborbitary underneath the fore 

 corner of the eye. The points or extremities of the two uppermost ribs are 

 rendered obsolete or inconspicuous by the junction with the nasal bone ; al- 

 though the second of them, reckoning downwards, is the longest and most pro- 

 minent forwards of them all, running out to the upper fore-angle of the subor- 

 bitary : but the two to four below this are produced beyond the suborbitary plate 

 itself, into a corresponding variable number of large and strong conspicuous mar- 

 ginal teeth or spines, lying over the maxillary, and for the most part in the 

 same plane with it ; but in this they vary, as in number, often on the two sides 

 of the same fish ; though normally there are four of them, growing two and two, 

 in pairs. They are also, like the ribs, liable to be confused by accessory spines or 

 prickles, given off upon their back. The uppermost and lowest of these four mar- 

 ginal teeth are the strongest : and it is one or both of the two between these 

 which is often wanting. 



Extending backwards from the root or point of divergence of these suborbitary ribs, 

 there runs across the cheeks, a little below each eye, descending backwards obliquely, 

 a strongly but irregularly armed bony keel or ridge, aculeate throughout, and ter- 

 minating in a strong spine, which has a smaller on its back or base, and is the 

 highest and much the largest of the five subremote marginal spines of the preopercle, 

 of which the two lowest are obsolete or inconspicuous, and the two above them 

 nearly equal. The opercle is produced high up obliquely tov/ards the nape, into a 

 flat or membranous parabola-shaped point, and is furnished with two diverging 

 even ridges, each ending within its edge in a strong sharp flattened adpressed 

 spine. Above the middle of the uppermost of these, at the junction or axil of the 

 opercle with the body, is a group of three moveable hooked spines, placed near 

 together in a triangle ; the two smaller ones in front belonging to the superscapu- 

 lary bone; and the third, much longer one, behind, which forms the apex of the 

 triangle, and is at the origin of the lateral line, being the upper edge and point of 

 the scapulars/. Half way between the two superscapulary spines and the eye, 

 ranging in a line with the lower of them, and the upper group of little fixed ones 

 on the lower end of the posterior frontal bone, there is a single large, distinct, 

 hooked, recurved spine, fixed firmly, and belonging to the scull : and again, behind 

 this, a little higher up, but in the interval between it and the two superscapulary 

 spines, and so immediately below the larger, hindmost nuchal spine, there is 

 another smaller prickle ; which is moveable, and belongs to a dermal plate, like 

 that of the two superscapulary prickles, over the base of which it partly imbricates. 

 The two nuchal spines above it, both project above the outline of the nape, and 

 terminate the armour of the head or scull behind, on either side. 



The humeral bone immediately above the axil of the pectoral fins, ends in a 

 strong flat adpressed spine or point, directed upwards, and sufficiently conspicuous 

 externally. 



The branchial membrane is large and conspicuous, with seven strong rays. 



