90 8ALM0NlPJi. 



a-h. Fine female specimens, 18 inches long. Ballinaliinch Fishery. 



Presented by F. Godman, Esq. — Canght in August ; ovaries 



with the ova fixed and developed to the size of hemp-seed. 

 c-d. Seven and eight inches long. Ballinahiuch Fishery. Presented 



by F. Godman, Esq. 

 e-li. ? Hybrids with IS. gaimardi, from 6 to 10 inches long. Ballina- 



hinch Fishery. Presented by F. Godman, Esq. 



Description of specimen a. 



The greatest depth of the body is below the origin of the dorsal 

 fin, and scarcely exceeds the length of the head, which is contained 

 foiu- times and a third in the total length (without caudal). 



The snout is produced, conical, compressed towards its point, its 

 length being contained once and three-fourths in the length of the 

 postorbital portion of the head. The maxillary bone is longer than 

 the snout by three-fifths of the diameter of the eye, and extends a 

 little beyond the posterior margin of the orbit : the width of its 

 broadest part is scarcely more than one-half of the diameter of the 

 eye *. 



The teeth of the mandible are larger than those in the upper jaw ; 

 those of the intermaxillary bone are about equal to those of the pala- 

 tine series, and are larger than those of the maxillaries. Of the 

 vomerine teeth only three or foui' remain ; they are placed in a 

 single longitudinal series, and are very small. Also the lingual teeth 

 are small not larger than those of the mandible. 



The interorbital space is very convex, the eye being situated con- 

 siderably below the upper profile of the head ; the width of this 

 space is one-eighth of an inch shorter than the maxillary bone, and 

 ebual to about three-fifths of the postorbital portion of the head. 



The posterior margin of the prccopereulum is slightly rounded and 

 subvertical ; the lower limb is distinct. The hinder margin of the 

 operculum meets the lower at a right angle. The distance from the 

 upper end of the gill-opening to the angle of the operculum is con- 

 spicuously more than that from the latter point to the lower anterior 

 angle of the subopereulum. 



The distance of the occiput from the origin of the dorsal fin, if 

 measured back from behind that fin, reaches nearly to the middle 

 of the distance between the adipose and the root of the caudal. The 

 dorsal fin is a little higher than long, and possesses thirteen rays, of 

 which the first and second are rudimentary and covered by the skin, 

 the third simple and shorter than the following one, which is the 

 first branched and, with the fifth, the longest in the fin ; the final 

 ray is cleft throughout. 



The anal fin is much higher than long, and possesses eleven rays, 

 of which the first and second are rudimentary and covered by the 

 skin, the third simple, the fourth branched and the longest, and the 

 last ray cleft to its root. 



* If the width of the bone itself is taken ; whilst it appears broader when 

 covered by the skin, as in the figm-e. 



