144 SCOMIiRID.E. 



length ; becoming for the most part proportionately greater as the fish grows 

 larger, but varying somewhat according to the condition of the individual exa- 

 mined in respect to repletion or pregnancy : the abdominal region being peculiarly 

 flaccid and extensible. Hence the less proportionate depth (one seventh and a 

 half, or, by the figm-e, one seventh of the whole length) in G. Proniet//e?ts, 

 Cuv. and Val.j than that which usually is found in the full-grown Madeiran fish, 

 may fairly be ascribed to the small size (ten inches long) of their individual, and to 

 the decomposed condition of its viscera. It is also worth remarking, that the adult 

 Madeiran fish, from one foot and a half to two feet and a half long, is precisely in- 

 termediate in the relative proportions of its depth and length between MM. Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes' G. Prometheus of ten inches, and their G. Solandrl of three 

 feet long, in which the depth is said to be one fifth and a third of the whole 

 length.* 



The greatest thickness of the Madeiran fish is close behind the eyes below the 

 nape ; and is contained from two to sometimes nearly three times in the greatest 

 depth. The length of the head is about one fourth of the whole length ; and the 

 diameter of the large eye is from one fourth and a half to one fourth of the length 

 of the head. In a young example only five inches and three eighths long, the eye 

 was between one fifth and one sixth of the length of the head : in MM. Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes' G, Prometheus of ten inches, it was one fourth of the same. 

 The eyes are rather prominent ; but the upper edge of their orbit does not rise 

 above the outline of the profile : they occupy more than half the depth of the head. 

 The space between them is broad, nearly equaling the diameter of the eye, and 

 remarkably flat like the top of the muzzle ; with a wide shallow hollow or de- 

 pression, running up into a point towards the nape. Head long and pointed : 

 the upper and lower lines of the profile converging equally and evenly, ex- 

 cept a slight elevation over the eye, from the origin of the dorsal and ventral 

 fins to the tip of the elongated muzzle, which extends one diameter and a 

 half before the eye. The anterior nostril is half way between the fore edge of 

 the eye and the tip of the upper jaw : the hinder nostril half way between 

 the fore nostril and the eye. Mouth and gape large, extending obliquely down- 

 wards under the fore quarter of the eye : the lower jaw considerably longer 

 than the vipper, and obtuse at the tip : both with a single outer row all round the 

 edges of about twenty-five compressed, triangular, strong, short, intermaxillary 

 teeth, irregular in size and distance, with sharp points, and cutting fore and hinder 

 edges. In front of the upper jaw, at the symphysis or junction of the intermaxil- 

 laries, there is a group of from four to six similar, but vastly longer and more 

 slender formidable teeth arranged in pairs behind each other, and locking behind 

 and within a single pair of smaller less elongated teeth at the tip of the lower jaw. 



* In G. Prometlieus, Cuv. and Val. 10 inches long, depth = — ;:^ — or — ~ — by figure. 



„ P. Atlanticus, 5-| inches long, depth = — ; 



55 55 ^'' 5' » " 



55 55 -'" 55 55 5! 



55 55 "5 5, 55 ,; 



55 55 "" 55 55 5' 



„ G. Solandri Cuv. and Val. 3(1 inches king, depth = — 



L. 



L. . 



H 



L. 



