LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS. 159 



GENUS LOBOTES. — Cuvier. 



Characters. Snout short, profile incurved, lower jaw prolonged, with several 

 groups of minute pores near its extremity ; pre-opercle with strong serratures ; 

 dorsal and anal fins prolonged, and rounded behind; dorsal spines partially 

 received in a furrow ; branchial rays six. 



LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS. — Block. 



Plate XXIII. Fig. 2. 



Specific Characters. Head short, profile incurved ; pre-opercle strongly 

 serrated, almost spinous at its angle ; body elliptical, compressed, elevated, dusky 

 or black above, with shades of yellow; dark silver-grey below. D. 12-16. 

 P. 15. V. 1-5. A. 3-12. C. 17. 



Synonymes. Holocentrus Surinamensis, Block, Ichth., pars vii. p. 78, pi. 243. 



Bodianus triurus, Milch., Lit. and Phil. Trans. N. Y., vol. i. p. 418, pi. 3, fig. 10. 

 Lobotes Surinamensis, Cuv. el Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., torn. v. p. 319. 

 Lobotes Surinamensis, DeKay, Zool. N. Y., part iv. p. 88, pi. 18, fig. 49. 

 Lobotes Surinamensis, Storer, Synops., p. 78. ; 

 Black Perch, Vulgo. 



Description. The form of this fish is sub-oval, elevated, compressed, a little 

 thicker at the belly than along the margin of the back. The head is rather short 

 and compressed, the snout rounded, and the profile incurved. The eye is of 

 moderate size, the pupil is black, and the iris grey, intermixed with yellow ; it is 

 placed about its diameter from the snout, and four diameters and a quarter from 

 the posterior angle of the opercle, with its inferior margin near the superior third 

 of the head. The nostrils are near together ; the posterior is rather the larger, 



