posterior articulated rays of this fin are approximated, and 

 might also be enumerated as one. The first anal spine is 

 so minute, that it can scarcely be found without dissection. 

 The second one is also very short, but it is thicker, and 

 obtuse. The third one scarcely exceeds a third of the 

 height of the succeeding articulated ray, and is slender 

 and tapering. The last anal ray is divided to the base, 

 and might be reckoned as two. The ventrals are placed 

 under the fifth and sixth dorsal spines, and the posterior 

 third of the pectorals. The lobes of the caudal are une- 

 qual, the lower one being largest. This form of the caudal 

 is very general with the Cheilodactyll and Latres. 

 Hab. Sidney Cove, Australia. 



Myctophum boops. Richardson. 



Ch. Spec. Myct. altitudine corporis vel longitudine ca- 

 pitis quintam partem longitudinis piscis totius tequaitte ; 

 oculo mag)io spatium interocularem e.vcedenti ; appa- 

 ratu lucido, cariiinto f route valde conspicuo ; pinnd 

 dorsi supra veiitralcs aiilepositas incipienti ; pinnis 

 pectoris aitum aitiiigevtibiis. 



Radii : — D. U— 0; A. 20 ; C. 17| ; P. 1.5 ; V. 8. 



Plate XXVII., figs. 6-12. 



Many Mediterranean fish of the natural family of Sal- 

 tnonid<e, and heretofore comprised in the genus Scopelus, 

 have been investigated by Dr. Cotto, of Messina, and 

 distributed into various new genera. The Prince of Mu- 

 signano, in the Fauna Italica, has pursued the investiga- 

 tion still farther, added another genus, and given figures 

 and descriptions of the several species, grouping the whole 

 into the subfamily of Scopolin<B. Fish of the same family 

 exist abundantly in the ocean, and the specimens brought 

 home by Sir James Ross enable us to describe and figure 

 a few of the species. If sought for, many more might, 

 doubtless, be added to the list, but they ought to be fished 

 for with a gauze net, and in the night time, when they 

 come to the surface in search of the small Crustacea on 

 which they feed. They are brilliant objects, their large 

 scales being resplendent with prismatic colours, and they 

 are, moreover, studded with rows of pearly points, situated 

 in the integument beneath the scales, but shining through 

 them. Great care should be taken in their preservation, 

 as, owing to their scales being very deciduous, they are 

 injured by the slightest friction. 



The first species we have to notice belongs to the genus 

 Myctophum of Cocco, and Dr. Hooker's sketch. No. 89, 

 presents a figure of it, drawn from the recent fish, cap- 

 tured on the 19th of January. Unfortunately, the notes 

 made at the time have been mislaid. Examples of the 

 same species were collected by Sir Edward Belcher, in the 

 China seas, but no note was taken of the exact place of 

 their capture. 



The genus Myctophum was first established by Ra- 

 finesque, but he assigned to it erroneous characters. Cocco 

 sums up its generic marks as consisting of " the minute 

 clustered or bundled teeth,* a claviform body, covered by 



* " GH sottUissimi denti si dispomjenu a fascetti.'' — Bon. 



large scales, among which those of the lateral line are 

 con.spicuous, the mouth cleft to opposite the hinder edge 

 of the orbit, the first dorsal opposed to the ventrals, and a 

 shining ajjparatus on the forehead, between the eyes." 

 To these the Prince of Musignano adds—" Very oblique 

 opercular pieces, short pectoral fins, and bluff' snouts." 

 The Oceanic species which we have to describe, do not 

 exhibit any clustering in the distribution of their teeth, 

 and their pectorals are not uniformly short, as in the 

 Mediterranean Myctophi. 



Myctophum boops received its specific appellation from 

 its large round eye, which fills about half the space be- 

 tween the tip of the snout and edge of the gill-cover, being, 

 however, greatly nearer to the former. The exact extent 

 of the shining frontal apparatus cannot be ascertained from 

 our specimens, which are injured, but there remains a soft 

 yellowish substance, that goes as far back between the 

 eyes as the anterior third of the orbit, and forwards round 

 the nostrils. Thin plates from the frontal and the edge 

 of the narrow preorbitar rise up to sustain it. A fine me- 

 sial crest of bone also springs from between the fore parts 

 of the orbits, and runs down to meet the thin edge of the 

 preorbitar, which curves upwards round the nostrils. 



Fig. 11, in plate 27, is executed from a sketch of the 

 recent fish, by Dr. Hooker, and shows this glandular body 

 in a more entire state than in our specimens.* The nos- 

 trils are well developed interiorly, exhibiting a turbinate 

 bone, composed of ten or twelve radiating leaves. 



The mouth is cleft horizontally backwards, to opposite 

 the posterior border of the orbit, but the dental surface of 

 the intermaxillary reaches still farther. The maxillary 

 dilates gradually to its end, which is obliquely truncated, 

 with the corners slightly rounded ; and is strengthened 

 from one end to the other by a smooth ridge. It is covered 

 nearly to its end by the preorbitar, and when the mouth is 

 shut, it reaches almost to the preoperculum. The inter- 

 maxillary extends to the extremity of the maxillary, so 

 that the latter forms no part of the margin of the mouth. 

 An even, not crowded, row of fine, short, subulate teeth, 

 crowns the edge of the intermaxillary throughout. They 

 are not clustered, and appear to be so only when one or 

 two are broken off" here and there, leaving the others in 

 small groups. These teeth are visible to the naked eye, 

 but on the outside of the row, on both jaws, there is" a 

 nan-ow, convex, dental surface, composed of very short, 

 minute, acute teeth, which can be distinguished only 

 through the aid of a microscope. The chevron of the 

 vomer, and edges of the palate bones, are furnished with 

 teeth, similar to the principal row on the jaws ; there 

 is a stripe of minute ones close within them on the palate 

 bones, and the convex disks of these bones are covered 

 with very minute granular teeth. The long, subulate 

 rakers of the outer branchial arch project forward into the 

 mouth, over the base of the very short, triangular tongue, 

 and are covered with minute, acute teeth. 



The suborbitar bones are thin, papery, and smooth, the 

 second one, situated directly under the eye, being the 



* In figure 6, the small eminence behind the eye, on ihe hiud henil 

 and nape, is added from Dr. Hooker's figure, there being no remains of 

 any glandular matter so far back in the specimens. 



