360 MALACANTHIDJE. 



(/. Adult : skin. West Indies. Purchased of Mr. Scrivener. 

 h. Adult female : skeleton. From the Haslar Collection. 

 i. Ovaria of specimen h. 



Valenciennes had ah-eady pointed out that the ahdominal cavity- 

 extends into the tail, that is, into the portion behind the anus and 

 behind the origin of the anal fui. He examined a male specimen : 

 and to this I may add, that the ovaria are perfectly separated from 

 each other, and that each of them is divided into two lobes by a very 

 deep anterior notch. 



Skeleton. — The maxillary is much broader in its upper half than 

 in its lower, and not longer than the intermaxillary ; the latter is 

 armed with a series of strong teeth : the three or four anterior ones 

 are the strongest and curved ; the lateral, twenty in number, are 

 slightly bent inwards ; and the posterior, again, is stronger and curved 

 forwards : there is a band of villiform teeth inteiiorly to the series 

 described, and broadest anteriorly. The maudibida also has an outer 

 series of stronger teeth ; four of them, situated on the middle of the 

 side, are the strongest and curved backwards, whilst ten smaller 

 ones, occupying the posterior part of the bone, are bent forwards : 

 there is a broad patch of vUliform teeth on the anterior part of the 

 jaw. The vomer and the palatines are flat and smooth. The 

 priEoperculum has no ridge or muciferous channel ; its limbs are 

 of equal length, and meet at an obtuse angle, which, however, is 

 rounded. The operculum is armed with a strong, flat spine ; sub- 

 and interoperculum narrow, the latter rather elongate. The tur- 

 binal bone and the prajorbital are long ; the remainder of the infra- 

 orbital ring is very narrow and feeble, but provided interiorly with 

 a broad concave plate, to support the eyeball from beneath. The 

 upper part of the skull is rather flat, and the bones forming the 

 brain-capsule are thin, semitransi^arent. There are some slight 

 ridges posteriorly, the most feeble of which is the occipital crest ; 

 the ridges to which the suprascapula is attached are much stronger. 

 The coracoid is exceedingly broad, formed by two bones. 



The length of the vertebral column is not caused by an increased 

 number of the vertebrae, but by the single vertebrae being con- 

 siderably elongate. The abdominal portion is formed by ten, the 

 caudal by fourteen vertebriE, and the length of the former is to that 

 of the latter as 1:1-5. The first vertebra is much compressed in its 

 longitudiaal diameter. The ribs are slender, and provided with 

 epipleural spines. The hasmal canal, below the first two caudal 

 vertebrae, is extremely wide, the haemal spines forming a complete 

 arch. The anal fin is continued anteriorly considerably below the 

 abdominal cavity ; and there are no haemals corresponding to the 

 rays by wliich this part of the fin is formed. 



2. Malacanthus latovittatus. 



Labrus lato-vittatus, Lacep. iii. p. 527. pi. 28. fig. 2. 

 Tpenianotus lato-vittatus, Lacep. iv. p. 804 (not pi. .3. fig. 2>. 



