280 SCLMSIDM. 



b. Adult, America. 



c. Adiilt : stiiifed. West Indies. Purchased of Mr. Scrivener. 



d. Half-grown. 



e. Adult : skeleton. From the Collection of the Zoological Society. 

 /. Intestines of specimen e. 



The air-bladder is oblong, with rather thin membranes, without 

 any appendages or contractions ; in front it is obtiise, rounded, taper- 

 ing to a point behind. The peritoneum forms a similar sac round the 

 intestines, as in Scketia luckla, with a very firm structure, so that it 

 is not easily torn ; but there are no air-vessels between the laminae 

 forming this sac. 



The sJcdeton differs in several points from that of other Sdcenidce. 

 The occipital crest is very elevated, and the hoiizontal portion of it 

 is much wider than the vertical; it is continued nearly to the anterior 

 extremity of the frontal bones, there being no single central cavity, 

 but on each side of the crest tkree grooves, separated from one another 

 by broad bony bridges. The anterior part of the infraorbital arch is 

 broad, and has two rows of grooves. The arrangement of the re- 

 mainder of the muciferous channels is the same as in Scicena ama- 

 zonica. The upper maxillary gradually widens posteriorly, but it 

 is not very broad at its extremity. The teeth form broad viUiform 

 bands, without larger ones. The lower part of the sktill globirlar ; 

 the occipital without cavities at the base of the crest. Urohyal short, 

 high, and triangular. Clavicula Avith an anterior hook-like process. 

 Ten abdominal and fifteen caudal vertebra;, the caudal portion being 

 nearly twice as long as the abdominal. All the vertebrae are very 

 compressed. It is a remarkable peculiarity of these fishes, observed 

 also by Curier, that all the iuterneiu-al spines of the spinoirs dorsal 

 are fixed between the neurals of the second and third vertebrae. 

 Olivier, who examined the skeleton oi Ecjues putictatv^, foimd them 

 between the third and fourth. Nevertheless, these neural spines are 

 not much stronger than the following. Two of the iiitemeurals of 

 the soft dorsal fin are always attached to one neural ; and one or two, 

 and posteriorly even more, are intermediate, mthout being connected 

 with any of the neurals. The first interhaeraal is of moderate strength, 

 equal in length to that of the third to eighth vertebrae, and attached 

 to the hajiuals of the eleventh, twelfth and thii'teenth. 



2. Eques acurainatus. 



Seba, iii. pi. 26. f. .33. 



Gramniistes acumiuatus, Bl. 8chn. p. 184. 



Equt's liueatus, Cuv. 4" Val. v. p. 169. 



aciuninatus, Cnsteht. Anim. fiauv. ou rares de VAmir. du Sud, 



p. 10. 



I^-l^iii^o- ^-f Vert. 11/14. 

 With six or seven straight longitudinal bands. 

 Atlantic shores of Tropical America. 



Adult. Cuba. From the Collection of the Zoological Society. 



