SERIOLA CAROLINENSIS. 71 



The mouth is large, the posterior extremity of the upper jaw reaching to the 

 middle of the orbit ; the lips are tolerably thick. The upper jaw is protractile, 

 and appears shorter than the lower when the mouth is open, but when shut, they 

 are of the same length ; both are armed with a large group, which is broadest 

 in front, of numerous small, pointed, card-like teeth ; there is an arrow-headed 

 group on the vomer, and an oblong patch of minute teeth on each palate-bone. 

 The tongue is broad, thick, rounded in front, and tolerably free, with its superior 

 surface anned with an oblong group of minute teeth along its centre. The pharyn- 

 geal bones are furnished with teeth similar to those of the jaws, but smaller. The 

 pre-opercle is nearly semicircular, and slightly prolonged at its angle. The opercle 

 is irregularly quadrilateral, with its anterior inferior angle prolonged and trun- 

 cated, to articulate with the inter-opercle. The sub-opercle is elongated, triangular, 

 with its base downwards, to unite with the concave margin of the inter-opercle, 

 which is broad. There are seven rather stout branchial rays. 



There are two dorsal fins ; the anterior begins nearly opposite the anterior third 

 of the pectoral, and is preceded by a short, recumbent spine, directed forwards ; 

 it has seven spines, the sixth and seventh being very short, and all are placed in a 

 groove. The posterior dorsal is long, as it terminates only at the root of the cau- 

 dal, and has one spinous and thirty-six soft rays, of which the third, fourth, and 

 fifth are the longest. The pectoral fin is short and broad, though pomted behind ; 

 it begins behind the opercle, and has eighteen rays. The ventral is large, and 

 arises with the pectoral, though it extends farther back ; it has one spine and five 

 soft rays, of which the first and last are so joined to the body as to make a deep 

 cavity. The anal is in shape like the soft dorsal fin, and though shorter is co- 

 terminal with it behind ; it has one spinous and twenty soft rays, and is preceded 

 by two small spines, which are often concealed by the skin. The caudal is widely 

 forked, though at the junction of the forks it is crescentic; it has twenty rays. 



The scales are minute, and mostly covered by the skin. The lateral line is at 

 first concurrent with the outline of the back, and runs along the superior third of 

 the body ; but at the beginning of the second dorsal it gradually descends to the 



