114 



is much rounded in the outline of the tip. The depression 

 of the head augments to the end of the snout, which has 

 very little vertical height, and is obtuse transversely : it 

 nearly equals the lower jaw in length, and its breadth 

 is augmented by thick scaleless lips, that can be made 

 to stand out laterally like wings. lu this position the 

 breadth of a single lip is equal to three-fourths of the 

 width of the snout, and it gradually narrows off to the 

 corner of the mouth, just in the same proportion that the 

 width of the jaw increases. The under jaw is furnished 

 with a lip of similar shape and size, pierced by rows of 

 large pores, and the scaly integument, ending abruptly at 

 the bases of both lips, produces at first sight the appearance 

 of an exterior lip, but there is not actually a distinct fold 

 of the skin there. The short tubular anterior nostrils are 

 placed on the margin of the snout, just where the lip joins 

 it, and the naked circular orifice of the posterior one is on 

 a level with the upper mai-gin of the orbit, and about one- 

 third as far before it as the eye is distant from the anterior 

 nostril. Eye small, and situated over the posterior third of 

 the mouth, which is of the usual size in the A nguilla, hni 

 small if compared with the Congri. The distance between 

 the eyes equals the distance between the orbit and end of the 

 snout, aud is contained four times in the distance between 

 the end of the snout and the gill-opening. The length of 

 the gape is contained thrice and one half in the last-men- 

 tioned distance. 



Vomerine and nasal teeth in one cluster, without any 

 perceptible line of separation, forming a brush-like plate, 

 which tapers to a point on the roof of the mouth, and does 

 not extend so far back by one quarter as the palatines. 

 The individual teeth are short, sleudcr, cylindrical and 

 slightly recurved, with small, compressed, acute tips. 

 The palatine bones are armed witli a main series of teeth, 

 resembling those of the common conger in being chisel- 

 shaped and somewhat oblique at the tips, and, from their 

 uniform height and close arrangement, fitting the series for 

 an iucisorial fiuiction. On the inside of this row there is 

 a lower even range of more pointed teeth, whose tips ai-e 

 inclined inwards towards the mesial line. A deep smooth 

 furrow separates the two rows. On the outside, close to 

 the root of the main palatine series, there is a row of 

 shorter acute teeth, resembling the nasal ones. Anteriorly 

 these acute teeth increase in number to three or four deep 

 on the outside, aud also fill up the furrow between the 

 principal rows, which there becomes wider, so that the 

 fore end of the palatine bones presents a dental surface al- 

 together similar to that of the nasal and vomerine bones ; 

 and the ends of the palatines, instead of articulating to the 

 posterior edge of the nasal disk, as in most of the congers, 

 go forward to the end of the snout, flanking the nasal bone, 

 on which they have a slight lateral motion, so that the line 

 separating their dental surfaces can be traced. The man- 

 dibular teeth are like the palatine ones, and there are about 

 nine teeth in the width of the dental surface near the sym- 

 physis. 



The gill-openings are rather large, and the pectorals 

 small and rounded. Their length about equals the dis- 

 tance from the posterior edge of the orbit to the end of the 

 snout ; and the dorsal commences at the distance of thrice 

 the length of the i)ectoral from the gill-opening. 



Length 36 inches. To anus 16^ inches. To gill-open- 

 ing 4'8 inches. Height of body behind the pectorals 

 3 inches. Thickness 2 inches. 



In Anguilla brevirostris the anterior interior palatine 

 teeth are represented as forming an obtuse cluster on the 

 side of the vomerine teeth. The dental plate, though wide 

 anteriorly in labrosa, does not form the same lobe-hke 

 cluster, aud the vomerine teeth taper more regularly and 

 rapidly to an acute point. 



Platycephalus cirronasus. Richardson. 



Radii :— -B. 7 ; D. 9|— 12 ; A. 11 ; C. 9i ; P. 20 ; V. 1|5. 



Plate LI., figs. 7—10. 



The body of this Plalycephalus is thickest where it joins 

 the head. At that place its width exceeds its height by a 

 fourth or fifth part, and its back rounds imperceptibly 

 down to the belly, which is flat. It tapers gradually from 

 the shoulders to the base of the caudal fin. The head, 

 when the upper jaw is retracted, forms just one-third of the 

 total length of the fish, and its breadth at the gill-covers 

 exceeds its height by a third part. Viewed from above its 

 outline is semi-elliptical, the snout being rounded. In 

 profile the snout is almost horizontal, with an abrupt rise 

 from the nostrils, produced by the prominence of the 

 orbits, and a more gentle ascent from the eyes to the 

 dorsal. The under jaw is the width of its lip longer than 

 the upper one, but the latter can be protracted so as to 

 equal the mandible. The anterior nostril is furnished 

 with a pointed thin membranous barbel, and the posterior 

 one has a lower semi-tubular margin. The eyes are oval, 

 approaching to round, being only slightly longer than thej' 

 are high. In figure 7 they have a more oblong shape, 

 fi-om their upper parts being seen in perspective. Their 

 diameter is contained about five times and a half in the 

 length of the head, and the distance between their orbits 

 is equal to half a diameter. The superior margins of the 

 orbits are tliin, elevated and acute, producing a semicircu- 

 lar canal between the eyes. In the fore part of this canal, 

 before the orbits, there is a very slight obtuse mesial ridge, 

 which entirely disappears between the eyes. There is no 

 vestige of an orbitar barbel such as exists in P. ientacula- 

 tus of Iviippcll, from which this species also differs in its 

 shorter and more depressed snout aud larger eye. The 

 following are the spines with which the head is armed. 

 The prefrontal shows a small blunt point, covered with in- 

 tegument on the outside of the posterior nostril. There is 

 one acute spinous point at the anterior end of the orbital 

 border, and two posteriorly, the last one being wholly be- 

 hind the orbit, and rather exterior to the one which pre- 

 cedes it ; a low ridge leading from the last orbitar spine, 

 inclining slightly to the mesial line, and, augmenting in 

 height as it runs back, ends in an acute point on the hinder 

 part of the cranium. On the tenqiles there is a small acute 

 spine immediately behind the orbit, and a short acute ridge 

 which springs from its base, and inclines a little outwards. 



