APLURUS SIMPLEX. 127 



caudal vertebra has the top of the arch simple, and gives off only a single com- 

 pressed recurved swordlike lamina. The vertebrae are all, except the first, of 

 nearly equal length ; and both the upper and lower caudal single apophyses are 

 short and feeble. 



The top of the skull is very flat ; the interparietal crest being remarkably low, 

 and scarcely higher than the lateral crests. All the bones are rather soft and 

 fragile, readily splitting longitudinally. 



The female fish above alludccl to, measuring three feet and one inch in 

 length, "weighed nine pounds and half an ounce. 



The figure is reduced from one of a male example, which measured 

 three feet four inches in length, and six inches and a half in depth. The . 

 left-hand figure above the fish represents four of the small crowded scales ; 

 the right-hand figure, the same numdDer of the prickles with their roots, 

 separated by maceration from the skin, but placed in their relative na- 

 tural position : both these figures are considerably magnified. The middle 

 figure of the three is a view of the under surface of a portion of the skin, 

 in its natural state and size. The white forked parts are the roots of the 

 prickles. 



