168 THE PEOCEEDINGS OF THfi LINNEAN SOCIETY 



abdominal, taking its rise in a deep notch of the sharp ventral 

 edge, about opposite the middle of the second plate of the 

 cuirass, much nearer to the anal fin than to the eye, and consists 

 of four rays, the two longest quite four lines in length. The 

 other fins are close together, and much of a size, the anal con- 

 sisting of ten rays, about the length of those of the ventral ; 

 the caudal in the same plane on a tail pointing downwards, and 

 only a little .free from the body, of ten rays. The soft dorsal 

 close behind and in the same plane, of ten rays, gradually 

 lengthening backwards, or towards the first rays, according to 

 the method of reckoning in fishes of normal form. 



The spinous dorsal consists, in addition to the articulated con- 

 tinuation of the dorsal cuirass already mentioned, of a short 

 strong spine pointing downwards and backwards from the under 

 side of the extremity of the dorsal cuirass, and connected by a 

 very small membrane with the first spine, and of two others, 

 considerably larger and near the soft dorsal, of a slightly curved 

 and flattened shape and unequal size : the one nearest the soft 

 dorsal being the smallest, connected together by a membrane to 

 the apex, and also connected by a long but low membrane with 

 the second spine. 



The color seems to have been yellowish or yellowish brown for 

 the most part, on the hard parts, all the rest seems to have been 

 transparent; the dark mark along the middle of t^e body is 

 probably due to the course of the alimentary canal showing 

 through the integuments. 



The length of the fish is five inches, the figure given in plate 

 19B being the exact dimensions, and I believe it is the full adult 

 size. The specimen I suppose to be a male, as in another species, 

 Kner seems to have found the prolongation of two rays in the 

 ventral fin, an indication of the sex. 



Three species of AmpMsile are recorded in Dr. Gunther's 

 admirable Catalogue of Fishes. A. scutata, Tpunctulata^ and stri- 

 gaia ; of these, the last, a species described and named by that 

 distinguished Ichthyologist himself is the only one which can be 

 suspected of being identical with the present species. But the 

 differences are many and important. The following are some of 



