130 • OTOLITHUS REGALIS. 



Colour. The ground colour of the whole animal is silvery, more or less clouded 

 above, and with a strong green tint along the top of the head and back ; the sides 

 of the head are silvery ; the back above the lateral line is marked with numerous 

 irregular dusky blotches, less distinct beneath, and which finally disappear and 

 leave the belly silver-white. The tongue above, and the inner and posterior part of 

 the lower lip, are yellow ; the roof of the mouth and fauces are of the same tint, 

 but paler. The dorsal fin is transparent, or occasionally slightly clouded. The 

 pectoral is semi-transparent, yellowish before and whitish behind. The ventral has 

 its four anterior rays yellow, the posterior are white ; the anterior half of the anal 

 is yellow, with occasional minute dusky spots ; its posterior half is pale yellow or 

 white. The caudal is pale brown. 



Dimensions. The head, from the tip of the lower jaw, is one fourth of the 

 entire length ; the greatest elevation vdth the dorsal fin is one head ; total length, 

 twenty inches. 



Splanchnology. The liver is large, the central portion rather narrow ; the two lobes are long, nar- 

 row, the left being the longer, as it extends half the length of the abdomen, and both project into 

 the hypochondria along with the horns of the air-bladder. The gall-bladder is elongated, conical, 

 and situated far behind the right lobe ; the cystic duct is long and slender, but is slightly enlarged 

 opposite the right lobe, though it receives no hepatic duct at that point, but farther forward it re- 

 ceives several, and then opens into the duodenum. The stomach is long, narrow, pointed behind, 

 and has thick walls ; the pyloric portion is exceedingly short, and begins as far forwards as the 

 transverse portion of the liver. The small intestine is nearly as large as the stomach, but with thin 

 walls ; it first turns backward nearly to the middle of the abdomen, where it makes a short convolu- 

 tion forward, and then is reflected to end in the rectum, which is much smaller. There are four 

 CGBcal appendages, conical, elongated, almost as large as the intestine, and some of them being 

 nearly two inches in length. The ovaries are flattened, oblong, and are united behind to open into 

 a common duct. The air-bladder is large, and extends the length of the abdomen ; it is pointed 

 behind, and terminates before in a small rounded extremity, with a conical pointed cornu on each 

 side that projects slightly beyond it. These cornua separate from the air-bladder at about its ante- 

 rior fourth, whence a groove is continued on its inner face nearly to its posterior extremity. The 

 air-bladder has very thick walls, though by no means strong ; they are of a white satin-colour 

 without, but within and below is a large mass of greyish vascular matter. The kidney is rather 

 broad, but thin along the spine ; there is no urinary bladder. 



