198 GIGANTIC SUDIS. 



" Caput magnum, depressissimum, extus osseum. Os am- 

 plissimum, transversum, in toto suo margine dentibus elongatis, 

 conicis armatum ; in palato dentes velutini ; ossa inter-maxil- 

 laria satis lata marginem superiorem, ossa maxillaria superiora 

 retrorsum subarcuata, angusta, margines lateres maxillae supe- 

 rioris conformant oculi et nares ad rostri apicem. Membrana 

 branchiostega radiis 1 1 . Corpus elongatum, eompressum, squa- 

 mis magnis osseis tectum. Pinna dorsalis longissima anali op- 

 posita ad caudse apicem usque producta." 



GIGANTIC SUDIS. 



Swdis gigas, Cuv. 



PLATE XI. 



Les vastres, Sudis, Cuv. Reg. Anim. ii. p. 327 — Sudis pirarucn, 

 Spix^ pi. xvi. p. 31. — Pirarucu or Arapaima, Schomh. Draw- 

 ings. 



In the drawing of this fish, the head and fore part 

 of the body is more attenuated than in the figure of 

 Spix, and the snout or upper jaw, slightly shorter 

 than the lower, is turned up. The body is entirely 

 covered with large scales, round on their posterior 

 edge, and the base of the dorsal and anal fins, thick- 

 ened and muscular where they leave the line of the 

 body, are scaled upward, for two- thirds of their 

 depth, or until the rays are given off with a separate 

 dividing membrane; at their termination succeeds 



