56 CATALOGUE OF FISH. 



acute ; the posterior pair being the tallest in the mouth. Eight or 

 nine small, acute, uniserial vomerine teeth. Palatine teeth, about 

 10, uniserial. There are about 16 or 17 conspicuous teeth on each 

 limb of the mandible, exclusive of small ones at the bases of the 

 front teeth as on the nasal bone. 



Eye moderately large, rather posterior to the middle of the 

 rictus. The upper and lower jaw are bordered by a row of large 

 pores, and there are also G on the tip of the snout. Vent, one 

 twenty-fourth part of the whole length before the middle of the 

 fish. Dorsal fin commencing before the gill-opening, gradually 

 increasing in height until it attains its greatest elevation beyond 

 the vent. Both it and the anal are conspicuous towards the tip of 

 the tail, which is considerably compressed. 



The ground colour of the fish is dark, or blackish brown, and is 

 varied by white, oval, roundish, or irregular marks of various sizes, 

 larger on the fore pai't of the fish, and so crowded on the head as 

 to produce merely a brown and white mottling, becoming gradually 

 smaller and more distinct posteriorly, and, towards the tip of the 

 tail, arranged so as to pi'oduce a banded appearance. The white 

 marks include oval and roundish blackish spots, genei'ally darker 

 than the ground colour. The throat and belly are pale, with a 

 more minute mottling, and the folds of the throat, the corners of 

 the mouth, and the gill-openings are black. Snout and lower 

 jaw less spotted. The edges of the dorsal and anal are marked 

 by a series of small white dots, most crowded on the anal, and the 

 bases of these fins are spotted on each side by a less dense series. 



The colours and spots of the Australian specimen described 

 above, are extremely similar to those of one obtained at Gibraltar. 

 Having had the skeleton of this latter one made, I ascertained, by 

 repeated and careful enumeration, that the rays of the dorsal were 

 332, and of the anal 220, or 552 in all. The rays appear simple, 

 and are without perceptible joints ; but most of them can be split 

 at the tips into two branchlets. There are 142 vertebrae, 71 of 

 which are abdominal ; but the anal fin extends forwards to the 

 sixty-third. The air-bladder is oval, and about 1| in. in length. 



A second Gibraltar specimen differs slightly in the pale parts 

 having a dilute orange tint, and in the mottling of the belly being 

 more resolvable into spots, like those on the sides. 



The British Museum possesses a variety from the Bay of Naples, 

 in which the pale colour is reduced to roundish and angular white 

 specks, about the size of a pin's head, placed at the corners of the 

 black spots ; and at first sight the fish appears to be dark liver-brown, 

 speckled with white, but on a closer examination the figures of the 

 dark spots may be traced. Towards the end of the tail, the whitish 

 dots are arranged in vertical bars, five or six in each bar. The 

 white specks on the edges of the fins ai'e more remote than in the 

 more common variety. 



