19 



than that of any of the figures given in the Histoirc des 

 Poissons, Riippell's Neiic WirlhcHiiore, or by Russell, 

 but it has a higher body, shorter dorsal sijines, and its eye 

 is placed proportionally farther from the end of the snout, 

 being fully three longitudinal diameters of the orbit from 

 the extremity of the upper jaw when closely retracted, and 

 only one diameter from the nuchal scales. The Lethrinus 

 harak of Rlippell has a shorter snout, a more concave pro- 

 file of the face, and a more delicate and less strongly 

 arched spinous dorsal. 



Our fish has a profile ascending fi-om the snout, with a 

 scarcely perceptible concavity, to the lower nostril, and 

 then straightly, or rather couvexly, to the nape, where it 

 passes without abruptness into the longitudinal curve of 

 the back. The face makes an angle of 45° with the hori- 

 zontal rictus of the mouth ; the back is moderately convex, 

 and the belly less so ; the throat and under surface of the 

 mandible having a slight ascent when the mouth is closed. 

 The head is considerably compressed, its thickness at the 

 orbits being rather less than one-third of its height there, 

 and at the nape, which is a little thicker, the proportion to 

 the height is nearly the same. The top of the head and 

 snout is rounded off; the sides of the head are flat and 

 vertical. The distance from the anterior edge of the pre- 

 orbitar lip to the first dorsal spine is exactly equal to one- 

 third the length of the fish, caudal included, and the long 

 diameter of the eye forms one-fifth of this same distance, 

 and also of the length of the head, measured from the front 

 of the intermaxillary lip to the apex of the gill-cover. 

 Again, the long diameter of the eye is contained thrice in 

 the height of the cheek between the orbit and inferior edge 

 of the interoperculum, and the height of the head at the 

 nuchal scales is equal to the distance from these scales to 

 the intermaxillary lip with retracted jaws, but is less than 

 the length of the head measured to the hinder edge of the 

 gill-flap. The whole head, except the operculum, is 

 covered with thick porous skin, which projects beyond the 

 edges of the opercular pieces, forming acute, but very 

 smooth, flaps. The preoperculum is free, or capable of 

 being raised round its whole posterior and under border, 

 no part of the bone appearing through the integument; and 

 the depth of the flap at its rounded comer is about a quar- 

 ter of an inch. The nearly vertical posterior edge is 

 slightly concave. The integument is continued evenly 

 over the disk of the bone, the cheek, preorbitar, and across 

 the snout, its inferior edge forming the preorbitar lip, 

 whose flap is a quarter of an inch dee]) : its edge is quite 

 even. The height of the intero])ercnlum is likewise in- 

 creased by an even and rather firm cutaneous border. 

 The operculum is covered on the disk with six rows of 

 scales, and behind the last row the rounded, thin, flat edge 

 of the bone appears covered with smooth skin. The flex- 

 ible cartilaginous point of the interoperculum underlies 

 this bony process, and the soft skinny border of the gill- 

 flap forms a rounded corner or lobe behind all. There are 

 no points such as exist on the bony operculum oi genivit- 

 tatus, luljaitus, and some others. 



The mandible is articulated under the posterior nostril, 

 and when the mouth is fully open it is depressed so as to 

 form an angle of about 100° with the throat, the premax- 



illaries being at the same time protruded about half an 

 inch. In this state the flat, broadly rounded, lower end of 

 the maxillary, enveloped infolds of skin, comes from under 

 the preorbitar, which wholly conceals it when the mouth is 

 closed. The lips are densely studded with small, soft, 

 smooth, roundish papillas, and towards the roots of the 

 teeth are lined with folds of soft fringe-like villi. The 

 jaws, when the mouth is closed, are of equal length, and 

 each armed at the extremity by four canine teeth, that is, 

 two on each premaxillary and limb of the mandible : 

 they are of moderate size, and the intermediate pair is 

 smaller than the outer ones, particularly on the mandibles; 

 but they are followed on the limbs of the upper jaw, and 

 about a tooth's breadth more interiorly, by a row of ten or 

 eleven smaller, stoutly subulate teeth, which increase 

 slightly in size and become more conical from the first to 

 the seventh : this one equals the middle pair of canines, 

 and the last three lateral teeth are smaller, lower and more 

 blunt, but not actually flat-crowned. Behind the canines 

 there is a band of densely villiform teeth, which tapers off 

 on the sides of the jaw, and ends at the seventh lateral 

 tooth. The limbs of the lower jaw are armed by twelve 

 teeth similar to the premaxillary ones, but a little larger : 

 they augment in size from the first to the ninth, and the 

 last three are lower and blunter. The tongue is narrow, 

 pointed and smooth. 



The supra-scapulars are each covered by a cluster of six 

 scales, whose disks are clothed with porous skin ; and a 

 row of five or six similar scales descends on the temples 

 before the upper end of the preoperculinn. The nuchal or 

 first row of scales are also invested with porous integument, 

 and the first bone of the humeral chain takes its place 

 among them, being distinguishable chiefly by its somewhat 

 greater size. There are forty-six scales in a row between the 

 gill-o])ening and the caudal fin, excluding the band of small 

 ones which invest the bases of the rays, and about eighteen 

 rows on the height behind the axilla of the pectoral. The 

 species is one of the highest and stoutest among the Lethrini, 

 the height of the body being equal to the length of the head 

 or one-third of the total length of the fish, agreeing in this 

 respect with abbreviatus and some others described in the 

 Histoire des Poissons. The first dorsal spine stands over 

 the space between the gill-opeuing and base of the pecto- 

 ral, and is a trifle too far forwards in our figure.* It is 

 scarcely half the height of the third spine, which is the 

 tallest : the following ones gradually decrease to the 

 eighth, which is about one-fourth shorter than the third 

 one, and is very slightly exceeded in height by the ninth 

 and tenth. The solt rays are about equal in length to the 

 third spine. The spines of the dorsal and anal are set 

 with their broad sides turned alternately to the right and 

 left. The third anal spine is the tallest. The pointed 

 scales above and between the ventrals are three-cornered, 

 and possess considerable rigidity. The caudal when ex- 

 tended is notched to about a third of the length of its mid- 

 dle rays, and its corners are rather acute. 



The colours in a fresh state were not recorded, but the 



* The artist has inadvertently represented eleven spines instead often, 

 and this error has advanced the commencement of the tin a little. 



