SAEGUS. 43 



of the operculum is covered with scales. The praeoperculum is obtusely denticulated, 

 and the operculum terminates in a conspicuous point posteriorly. The suprascapula 

 is concealed by the scales. In the upper jaw there are four, and in the lower jaw 

 three, series of large, broad, flat, moveable, tricuspid teeth, there being about twenty in 

 the outer series of the upper jaw. 



The dorsal spines are very broad and flat, but rather feeble ; the first and second 

 are minute ; the third, fourth, and fifth are produced into long filaments, which are 

 about twice the length of the head ; the sixth is less than the diameter of the eye ; 

 the seventh and eighth decrease in length ; the ninth, which must be regarded as 

 belonging to the soft portion, is shorter than the sixth ; all these spines are inserted 

 in, and can be received within, a deep scaly sheath : the soft portion is scaly, the 

 length of its base is greater than that of the spinous portion ; it is elevated anteriorly, 

 the longest rays being not quite as long as the head ; the upper margin is rounded ; 

 the first ray is half the length of the second ; the next six are nearly equal ; thence 

 they gradually decrease in length ; the last is the shortest, and is about one-third the 

 length of the second. Caudal emarginate. Anal elevated anteriorly, its lower edge is 

 emarginate : the spines are short, strong, and rather remote from each other ; the 

 second and third are nearly equal in length : the soft portion is covered with scales ; the 

 third ray is longer than the longest of the dorsal. Pectoral obtusely pointed, and 

 much shorter than the ventral. Ventral long, the first ray being produced into a filament 

 which reaches to the anal. 



The scales are of moderate size, sparoid, higher than broad ; at the axil of the ven- 

 tral they are modified into a lanceolate flap. 



Colour silvery grey, with about nine indistinct darker cross bands : the first (through 

 the eye) and the second (from the top of the interparietal crest, passing over the superior 

 angle of operculum and root of pectorals) are more distinct than the others. 



Zanzibar. 



Length 1T| inches. 



SAEGUS, Klein. 



135. SargTis rondeletii. [166.] 



Spams sargus, L. Gm. p. 1270; Bl. t. 264. 



Sargus raucus, Geoff. Descr. Egypt. Poiss. pi. 18. f. 1. 



rondeletii, Cuv. §■ Val. vi. p. 14, pi. 14; Giinth. Fish. i. p. 440. 



This specimen was obtained at Maculla, on the south coast of Arabia, and was the 

 only one observed by Colonel Playfair either there or elsewhere on the Arabian and 

 African coasts. We have compared it with specimens both of S. rondeletii and S. 

 capensis ; and it is singular that it agrees better with the Mediterranean than with the 

 African species. 



South Arabia. Mediterranean. Madeira. Canary Islands. 



g2 



