(J. PACUYMETOl'ON. 425 



of the neck is strongly curved, and passes into u veiy prominent 

 rounded protuberance between the eyes. The greatest height of the 

 body is above the root of the ventrals, and one-third in the total 

 length ; the head is rather short, one-fifth of the total longtli, and 

 distinguLslicd by the convex prominence across tlie foreliead. The 

 width between the eyes is 21 in the length of the head. The snout 

 is elevated, short, and obtuse, -with the cleft of the mouth rather 

 small, the ujjpcr maxillarj- reaching to the vertical from the pos- 

 terior nostril. The posterior portion of the mandibula is scaly. 

 The prajorbital is rather longer than wide, and naked, like the upper 

 part of the skull. The eye is of moderate size, and contained 44 in 

 the length of the head, or 1| in that of the snout. The nostrils \re 

 situated before the upper angle of the orbit, and rather remote from 

 each other; the posterior is an elongate sUt, the anterior more 

 rounded. The cheek is covered ^vith six series of scales, but a 

 bi'oad marginal space of the praeoperculum is scalelcss ; the pos- 

 terior margin of the pra3operculum is straight, slightly oblique; 

 the angle is rounded and minutely serrated ; the inferior margin 

 convex, and about half as long as the posterior. The other opercles 

 are covered with scales, without any spines or denticulations. The 

 suprascapula is much larger than a scale, and indistinctly striated ; 

 a series of scales, similarly striated, ascends from the suprascapula 

 to the neck. 



The distance of the occiput from the dorsal fin nearly equals that 

 from the end of the snout. The fin is continuous, and its soft por- 

 tion is enveloped in a scaly coat to one-half of its height. Its origin 

 falls vertically above the root of the pectoral, and its end above the 

 sixty-third scale of the lateral line. The spines are moderate ; the 

 fifth is one of the highest, and about 2^ in the length of the head. 

 The soft dorsal nearly equals the same height. The distance between 

 the caudal and doi'sal fins nearly equals the height of the tail beneath 

 the dorsal fin. The caudal fin is densely covered and entirely hidden 

 by minute scales ; it is emargiuate, with the lobes pointed, one of 

 the middle rays being rather less than one-half of the length of a 

 lobe. The anal fin is scaly to the same extent as the soft dorsal ; 

 its origin falls vertically rather behind that of the soft portion of the 

 dorsal ; the spines are rather strong ; the first is one-half of the 

 length of the second ; the second rather stronger, but not longer 

 than the tliii'd, and about two-thii-ds the length of the longest doi-sal 

 spine. The rays appear to be equal to one another, and to those of 

 the doi'sal fin. The pectoral fin is 3| in the total length, and reaches 

 to the origin of the anal ; the fifth ray exceeds the others in length ; 

 the basal portion of tlie fin is densely covered with scales. The 

 root of the ventral falls entiix'ly l)chind that of the peetoral ; the fin 

 has a moderately strong spine, about two-thirds of the length of the 

 adjacent ray, and reaches nearly to the vent. 



The scales are of moderate size, not ciliated, higher than long ; 

 one of the largest covers one-half of the eye. 



The teeth forming the outer series are triangular, broad, with 

 pointed extremities, sixteen in the upper jaw and twenty -two in the 



