12 



cartilaginous ray, which lies in the branchiostegous mem- 

 brane, above the uppermost ray, and parallel to it, and 

 might be easily mistaken for a seventh ray. There is a 

 deep notch on the upper edge of the operculum, above 

 the spine, which is filled by membrane. The gill-opening 

 is pretty large, but mostly vertical. The branchiostegous 

 rays are cylindrical and slender, and the membrane, when 

 extended, bulges, from the greater narrowness of its 

 edge. 



There are no scales ; the skin being smooth, and appa- 

 rently destitute of skinny processes. The lateral line com- 

 mences at the orbit, unites with its fellow by a transverse 

 line on the nape, then runs to the upper angle of the gill- 

 opening, and from thence crosses the shoulder to the base 

 of the second dorsal, at the middle of which it terminates. 

 At first it is traced by a series of contiguous tubes, with 

 open mouths, but before it terminates by three or four 

 pores only, without the tubes. Two or three pits may be 

 seen, with difficulty, at the base of the caudal, on the 

 level of its middle rays, as if the line had recommenced 

 there. 



The pectoral and caudal fins are rounded in outline. 

 The first dorsal is somewhat triangular, and is supported 

 by three flexible, filiform, jointless rays. All the rays of 

 the second dorsal (twenty-four) are jointed, and the last one 

 is divided to the base. The anal contains seventeen rays, 

 the last being divided, and all of them jointed. The 

 ventrals, in position and form, resemble those of an Eleo- 

 tris. They are a little in advance of the pectorals. The 

 spine is short, and has a flexible tip. 



The original colours have perished, but the specimens 

 still show oblique dark bands on the body and second 

 dorsal, and three or four narrow transverse bands on the 

 pectorals and caudal. 



The skeleton shows a very short occipital spine, which 

 does not rise above the hind head, and is not visible in the 

 recent fish. The vertebrae are thirty-five, of which eleven 

 are abdominal and twenty-four caudal. The peritoneum 

 is silvery, with minute dark brown specks. The liver, 

 broad, thin, and rounded, lies on the ventral surface of 

 the upper part of the stomach, embracing the oesophagus, 

 and having a fissure on the left side, to half its depth, sepa- 

 rating a small obtuse tongue-shaped lobe. Stomach nearly 

 globular, with a very short pyloric branch on the right 

 side. The intestine makes a short convolution on the right 

 side of the stomach, not descending to the fundus of that 

 viscus, and then runs straight to the anus. Three short 

 conical ca;ca surround the pylorus. There is no air- 

 bladder. The stomach filled more than half the belly, 

 and contained Cruntacea. A parasitic worm was half 

 buried in the liver. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length from tip of snout to end of caudal fin 2-.35 inches. 



„ „ upper angle of gill-opening 0-6.1 „ 



„ ., point of opercular spine ... 075 „ 



Breadth between tips of opercular spines 0-78 „ 



,1 „ subopercular ditto 085 „ 



Height of nape 040 



Length of caudal 040 „ 



Diameier of eye 0-18 ^^ 



Cu^NiCTHYs. Richardson. 

 Channicthys, Richardson. Ann. Nat. Hist., June, 1844. 



Caput magnum, cranio scabro, subtetragono, facie hori- 

 zontali ante oculos longd, lateraliterque per parietes 

 oris membranaceos dilatabiles auctd. 



Faux laxissima, horizontalis, terminalis ; rictu superne 

 ab ossibus interniaxillaribiis (satis mobilibus nee tamen 

 propter pedicelLorum eximiam brevitatem protract ilibus) 

 facto. Os maxillare gracile, paulo in f curvatmn, un- 

 guium tantum oris attingens, nee sub aciem ossis preor- 

 bitalis reddens. 



Dentes in ambitii oris breves, curvati, slipati. Vomer et 

 palatum edentati. Ossa pharyngis denticulata. 



Oculi largiusculi, laterales. 



Narium apertura anteriores ante articulos ossium maxil- 

 lariiim posita; a posterioribus remotce. 



Os preorbitale oblique flabelliforme, rostro brevius : ossa 

 suborbitalia sequentia minima, scabriuscula, orbitam 

 subter cingentia. 



Gena magna, nuda, inermis, nee mode Triglorum osse 

 suborbitaU secundo percursa. 



Ossa operculi parva, una cunt tncinhrand rDinicetcnIi cir- 

 cumeuntique operculum modicuui triaugulare confi- 

 cientia. Os operculare propriuin, tri/nirlilum : pars 

 postica ad marginem sublibera et in apicibus quinque 

 subspinosis divisa. 



Apertura branchialis amplissima intra ramos maxiUce in- 

 ferioris procedens. Membrana branchiostega lata, 

 radiis sex gracilibus teretiusculis sustentata. Areas 

 branchiarum quatuor, liberi, et lamina una operculo 

 adnata. 



Corpus teres, modo Triglorum in caudam gracilem sensim 

 attenuatum, ventre tumidiusculo. 



Squamae vera; nullcB. Cutis Iwvis. Linea lateralis post 

 Jinem pinnce dorsi secundce diffracta denuoque ad basin 

 pinncB caudcB desinens, per totum cursum suuni scutellis 

 scabris armata. Scutelli rotundi pauci in medio latere 

 spars i. 



Pinnae ventrales ante pectorales positcB. Pinnte ventrales 

 jrinnas Triglae simulantes. Dorsales du<B, quarum prior 

 alta, triangularis ; secunda longa, radiis setaceis, sim- 

 pliciusculis, arlicu'atis sustentata. Radii pinnce ani 

 omnes articulati cum apicibus modo Trachinorum de 

 membrana extantibus. Pinnee pectorales wajusculw, 

 rotundatiB, non pedicellatcB, radiis omnibus divisa. 



Papilla genitalis simplex, parva. 



Vesica aeris nulla. 



Ventriculus oi'a//s, ramo brevi asccndenti ; cceca pglorica 

 dua brevia. 



Ods. Genus inter Hmmerocwlem et Comephorum locandum. 

 Nomen ab xaira hisco, et Ix^u^ piscis derivatum.* 



* In constructing a generic name from these Greek words., I followed, 

 at first, the example of Ovid (De Piscibus), who wrote Channe as the 

 Latin derivative from X''"''") l"'' •' l^^s been suggested to me, that the 

 conjunction of this adopted Latin word with a Greek one, is not so 

 proper as following the Greek orthography in both ; and I have, there- 

 fore, altered Channicthtjs to CU(Enicthys. I was precluded from using 

 the word Channe alone, from its having been the designation of a Medi- 

 terranean fish. 



