2. BOX. 419 



/'. Adult: skin: very bad state. Fidnioutli fish-market. Presented 



by W. P. Cork, Esq. 

 /■. Adult. Old Collection. 

 1. Half-gro-\\ni : bad state. 

 in. Half-grown : b;id state. 



/*. Half-grown : sUifl'ed. From Mr. "^'arrell's Collcctiou. 

 0. Young. 

 p. Adult : skin. From Gronov"s Collection. 



Var. cvEAiBicv, an species ? 

 q. Fine specimen. St. Vincent's. From Mr. Macgilli\Tay's Collection. 

 D. 1^. A. ^. L. lat. 80. L. transv. 8/15. 



This specimen differs more from the Mediterranean fish than the 

 Boops canariensis of Valenciennes, having smaller scales above the 

 lateral line ; but the wider the range of a species, and the more 

 numerous it is in indi\'iduals, the more caution is requrred in sepa- 

 rating new forms from it, as after all it may prove to bo a climatic 

 or an accidental variety. But the fish is very interesting, as a spe- 

 cimen of Box has not yet been found in the West Indies. 



Slceleton.^l\ic occipital crest and the two lateral crests are thin, 

 feeble, and moderately elevated ; the former does not extend on the 

 frontal bones, and the latter emit a flat free process posteriorly. The 

 upper surface of the frontal bones is roughened by low irregular ridges 

 and grooves ; there is a shallow median groove along the sutiu-e of 

 the bones. The tvu'binal bones arc transformed into a rather elongate 

 tube. The posterior process of the intermaxillary is shorter than 

 the descending branch of the bone ; the mandibula is of moderate 

 length, as long as the prseorbital. The vomer is cuneiform, flat. 

 The pra!orbital is elongate, slightly tapering posteriorly ; the re- 

 mainder of the infraorbital arch is somewhat narrower, without 

 interior plate. The prajoperculuni has no prominent ridge, or a 

 developed muciferous cavity ; its angular portion is very thin, flexible, 

 broad, produced, with the posterior margin rounded. The operculum 

 is twice a.s high as broad, and has a very obtuse posterior point, 

 ■with a slight notch above. The suboperculum is elongate, and has 

 a neaiiy vertical situation. The basal portion of the brain-capsule 

 is compressed, and the basisphenoid has a very wide foramen before 

 the occipital jomt. The urohyal is distinguished by a very deep in- 

 cisure in its posterior margin. Each pubic bone is fomied by three 

 lamella} of equal extent ; their entire length is less than that of the 

 coracoid. 



I find one vertebra more than stated by Valenciennes, namely 

 eleven abdominal vertebra' and thirteen caudal, the length of the 

 former portion of the vertebral column being to that of the latter as 

 1: 1-07. Tlie single vertcl)rie are rather elongate; the neural and 

 hajmal spines narrow, except those of the first four vertebriP, which 

 are dilated ; the interneural spines are dilated, triangular, but short, 

 and do not extend between the neural spines. The interhajmal 

 spines are very feeble, and the first is scarcely diflerent from tlie 

 others. The ribs are slender, 



2e2 



