THE CHARACINES. 51 
niimdibuliir series there are two smull teeth with sharp 
eiisps that curve backward toward the throat. A lip cov- 
ers the lower teeth, hut the up})er are quite exposed. 
There are no teeth on the roof of the mouth. The pha- 
i-yugeal teeth are very small and form small granular pave- 
ments. On one side there are four branchial rays ; on the 
other side there are five. The gill-rakers are short and 
slender, setiform. Of the three hones behind the orbit 
the lower is the largest, about as huge as the eye, and the 
middle one is the smallest. 
The pectoral tins are l)ut moderate in size, as long as the 
head ; they reach a little more than half way to the ven- 
Irals, and the}' have fouiteen rays. The dorsal fin is be- 
hind the middle of the bod}', behind the base of the ven- 
trals, and has eleven rays, the second and third of which 
are prolonged into a point. The adipose fin is near the 
eaudal, over the posterior extremity of the base of the anal. 
Anal elongate with twenty-six rays, of which the third to 
the tifth are elongate, Ventrals short, reaching the vent, 
in front of the dorsal, with eight rays. Caudal deeply 
notched, more than half of its length, with lobes nearly 
equal, the upper having thirteen rays and the lower but 
eleven. 
Scales very large and thin, Avith membranaceous edges. 
The exposed portion of each scale is broad and short; it is 
silvered in its posterior half. In the lateral line there are 
forty-seven scales, in a series from it to the dorsal there 
are eight, and between it and the ventral there are four 
on one side of the body, or five on the other. 
That portion of the air bladder lying immediately behind 
the skull is firmer and more rigid in its walls; its length 
is about one and three-fourths inches. The connection be- 
tween the two parts is a narrow rather solid mass of tissue 
of about half an inch in length. The hinder section of the 
