402 SC0JIBRIDJ5. 



entirely disappearing with ago. The height of tlic body is 2-2| in 

 the total length, the length of the head 3|-4| ; dorsal and anal fins 

 elevated antei-iorly ; caudal lobes equal in length. The lateral line 

 is keeled and shielded posteriorly. Uniform brownish or greyish. 

 East Indian Seas. 



a. Adult : stuffed. China Seas. Presented by J. R. Reeves, Esq. 

 h-e, Half-gro'v\Ti : skins. Malayan Peninsula. From Dr. Cantor's 



Collection. 

 /. Young. Purchased of Mr. Frank. 



20. CENTROLOPHUS. 



Centroloplius, Lacep. iv. p. 441 ; Cup. is; Val. ix. p. 330. 



Body rather compressed, more or less oblong, covered with very 

 small scales ; the cleft of the mouth of moderate width. A single 

 long dorsal, without distinct spinous division ; anal scaly, like the 

 dorsal, anteriorly with three feeble spines. A single series of minute 

 teeth in the jaws ; palate and tongue smooth. The epibranchial 

 bone of the fourth arch with long toothed processes. Seven bran- 

 chiostegals ; pseudobranehise present ; air-bladder small. Pyloric 

 appendages in moderate number. 



Mediterranean and the neighbouring parts of the Atlantic, north- 

 wards to the British coast. 



1. Centrolophus britannicus. 



Gilir. Ann. <^ Mag. Nat Hist. 1800, July, p. 46. 

 B. 7. D. 45. A. 30. 

 The height of the body is one-fifth of the total length, the length 

 of the head one-sixth. The maxUlaiy reaches to below the anterior 

 margin of the eye. The length of the dorsal fin is 1| in the total, 

 that of the anal 3g. Scales exceedingly small. Uniform brown. 

 Sea off Polperro. 



a. Adult: stuffed. Polperro. 



Description of the specimen. — This species differs greatly from Gen- 

 trolophus pompilus in the form and number of the fin-rays. The 

 upper profile descends from the dorsal fin in a scarcely stronger 

 curvature than that in which the lower one ascends. The greatest 

 depth of the body is below the second quarter of the dorsal fin, and 

 one-fifth of the total length ; the length of the head is one-sixth of 

 the total. The snout is short, obtuse, and appears to be scarcely 

 longer than the diameter of the eye, which is situated at a distance 

 from the extremity of the operculum twice greater than that from 

 the end of the snout. The jaws are armed Avith a series of minute 

 teeth. The rays of all the fins are much more slender and shorter 

 than in C, pompilus. The dorsal fin commences in tlie vertical from 

 the base of the ventrals, and its distance from the occiput equals 



