166 LEIOSTOMUS OBLIQUUS. 



anterior very minute, and twelve soft rays, the first and second longest. The 

 caudal is short, broad, slightly lunated, and has eighteen rays covered with small 

 scales for half their extent. 



The scales are nearly quadrilateral, a little rounded posteriorly, though they are 

 so disposed on the body as to appear sub-rhomboidal. The lateral line follows 

 nearly the arch of the back to the anterior fourth of the second dorsal fin, whence 

 it descends to the middle, and is thus continued. 



Colour. The head is dusky above ; the cheeks are yellowish, with exceedingly 

 minute dusky points ; the body is of the lightest silver-grey, with a golden tint 

 along the back ; the sides and belly are yellow ; fourteen or more dusky bars 

 descend obliquely forwards from above, and become effaced on the sides below the 

 lateral Ime ; a sub-round dark spot behind the opercle and above the pectoral fin 

 is always present ; the anterior portion of the dorsal is transparent, with numerous 

 minute dusky points ; the soft portion is nearly the same, but with the spots 

 arranged below in lines more or less distinct ; the pectoral fin is transparent, with 

 minute dusky spots only on its posterior part ; the ventral is yellow before and 

 white behind ; the anal fin has its posterior half perfectly transparent or white, 

 but in front it is semi-transparent, tinted with yellow, and marked with dusky 

 points ; the caudal fin is dusky at its root, with a yellow tint on its posteri- 

 or half. 



Dimensions. The length, from the opercle to the tip of the tail, is rather more 

 than three heads. The greatest elevation is equal to seven eighths of a head, 

 excluding the dorsal fin, and one head and a half with it. 



Splanchnology. The peritoneum is very duslcy within, and silvery without. The liver is large, the 

 central portion thin ; the left lobe is thick, and extends through three fourths of the abdominal cavity ; 

 the right is also thick, but not more than half as long, and both are marked with fissures. The gall- 

 bladder is large, conical, and very long, as it extends to the vent ; its greater portion is behind the 

 right lobe of the liver, and a small part only is lodged on its superior face. The stomach is an 

 elongated, conical sac, smaller than the ossophagus, resembling one of the ccBcal appendages, but 



