96 ELACATE CANADA. 



pointed manner, and projects beyond the upper, so that some of its teeth are ex- 

 posed. The eyes are rather large, placed on the sides of the head, and very near 

 its superior plane; the pupil is dusky, the iris silvery-white. The nostrils are 

 small, on the same plane, nearer the orbit than the snout, and in a line Avith its 

 upper margin; the anterior is slightly oval, the posterior is round. 



The mouth is large ; both the upper and lower jaws are furnished with several 

 series of short, conical, sharp-pointed, and deeply-set teeth ; there is, however, a 

 space in the mesial line, both in the upper and lower, where they do not exist ; 

 these teeth are all very stout at their roots, in proportion to their length and size. 

 The tongue is very large, and free for some distance, rounded in front, and cov- 

 ered to its tip with minute teeth, which make it rougli like sand-paper ; near the 

 centre of its base is an oblong group of large teeth ; and in the palate-bone is 

 another and extensive rhomboidal group of teeth, nearly as large as those in the 

 jaws. The pharyngeal bones are armed with teeth, which are rather larger than 

 the others, and slightly curved backwards. The pre-opercle is rounded at its 

 angle, slightly so at its posterior border, and is covered with small, round, entire 

 scales ; as are also the cheeks and temples. The opercle is large, with a smooth 

 border, but its surface is marked with several minute elevations, disposed in a radi- 

 ated manner. The gill-openings are large ; there are seven branchial rays. 



The soft dorsal fin is preceded by eight short, strong, compressed, sub-triangular 

 spines ; these spines begin a little behind the gills, opposite the pectoral fin ; and 

 in the old animal they are so deeply notched near their roots in front, as to appear 

 at first sight double ; each has a thin, depressed membrane attached to its poste- 

 rior border, which often runs to be connected with the root of the anterior part of 

 the spine behind it ; they are all movable, and placed in a groove. The soft or 

 second portion of the dorsal is thick, falciform at first, and elevated, but soon it 

 becomes depressed, and so continues to the caudal fin ; it has its two or three pos- 

 terior rays slightly prolonged to end in a point ; there are two spinous and thirty 

 soft rays, which project a little beyond the membrane that unites them. The pec- 

 toral fin is large, falciform, and pointed behind; it begins near the opercle, and 



