ELOPS SAURUS. 181 



inter-maxillary is narrow ; that of the superior maxillary is broader, and extends 

 on the outer as well as the inner margin of the bone ; the band of the lower jaw 

 is narrow behind, and broad before ; the vomer, the palate, the sphenoidal and the 

 pharjTigeal bones, are all furnished with similar teeth. The tongue is short, 

 round in front, and rough on its posterior part with minute teeth. The lower jaw 

 has an elongated sub-lingual bone attached in front between its branches. 



The pre-opercle is narrow, and ascends high up ; it is rounded behind, and 

 prolonged at its angle, which descends as low as the sub-opercle. The opercle is 

 sub-quadrilateral, with its inferior and posterior angle prolonged. The sub-opercle 

 is ensiform in shape, but broad, with its point turned upwards and backwards. 

 The gill-openings are large ; there are thirty-three branchial rays. 



The dorsal fin is single, semi-falcate, and is near the middle of the back ; it has 

 twenty-two rays, the first very short, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth longest; 

 they are placed in a sheath of the integuments which ascends for some distance, 

 but without any adhesion. The pectoral begins under and in front of the termi- 

 nation of the opercle, and has eighteen rays, with an elongated scale in the axilla 

 above. The ventral is stout, and begins rather before the origin of the dorsal ; it 

 has fifteen rays, with a supplementary plate above, three fourths as long as the fin 

 itself The anal is short, sub-falciform, and has fourteen rays, the two anterior 

 short, and all have their roots in a sheath, like those of the dorsal fin. The 

 caudal is long, deeply forked, and has twenty-eight rays, with a lanceolate scale 

 both above and below its root. 



The scales are caducous, exceedingly thin, sub-quadrilateral, round, and ciliated 

 behind, slightly scalloped before, and marked with nine radiating striae. The 

 lateral line at its anterior part is straight, and runs nearly along the upper third of 

 the body, but it descends to the median plane between the pectoral and ventral 

 fins. Its scales are sm^ll, sub-quadrilateral, and the posterior margin is least 

 extensive and ciliated, with both the superior and inferior borders incurved ; the 

 tube is near the middle of the scale. 



