SUf) 



Pago 222. AMBASSIS. 



Add to the diagnosis : Scales deciduous, generally large ; in some 

 species very small. 



Page 255. Add a new genus of PERCID.ffi : — 



54 a. LEMBUS*. 



Lateral line none. Branchiostegals six ; pseudobranchia) absent. 

 Body subfusiform ; cleft of the mouth rather wide, with the lower jaw 

 longest. A band of villifonn teeth in the jaws and on the vomer ; 

 no canines or palatine teeth. Opercles neither serrated nor armed. 

 Two dorsals, the first with seven slender spines ; anal spines indi- 

 stinct. Scales rather small, ctenoid. Air-bladder present. 



Fresh waters of Ecuador. 



1. Lembus maculatus. 



B. 6. D. 7 I J. A. |. L. lat. 57. L. transv. 22. 



Yellowish, irregularly spotted with blackish : back with five dark 

 cross-bars ; a black blotch beliind the extremity of the operculum ; 

 three blackish streaks radiating from the eye ; the vertical fins dotted 

 with blackish. 



a. Andes of Ecuador. From Mr. Fraser's Collection. 



Bescription. — This fish is one of the most interesting additions 

 in the collections sent home by Mr. Fraser. It is a true repre- 

 sentative, in South America, of the Perches of the Ai'ctic regions. It 

 oifers, however, several modifications of the tj^Dical characters, the 

 most important of wliich appears to be the absence of the lateral 

 line. In general appearance it resembles Luciojierea , or some of the 

 other elongate Perches, its greatest height below the spinous dorsal 

 being one-fifth of the total length (without caudalf). The body is 

 rather thick, its greatest thickness between the opercles being five- 

 sixths of the height. The tail is compressed. The length of the 

 head is one-third of the total ; it is rather depressed, broad and flat 

 superiorly, the width between the orbits being 4| in the length 

 of the head, or 1| the diameter of the eye. The snout is pro- 

 duced, depressed, with the lower jaw longest, and with tlie cleft of 

 tlic mouth "wide, the upper maxUlaiy reaching nearly to below the 

 middle of the eye. There are two nostiils on each side, fur apart 

 from each other : the posterior is near the uj^per angle of tlie orbit ; 

 the anterior is minute, and close to the upper extremity of tlie max- 

 illary bone. The eye is of moderate size, one-seventh the length of 

 the head, situated high up the sides, so that its margin interferes 



* From Xt/i/3os, a small, long, swift boat. 



t The caudal fin is lost in the single specimen, which is othcr«i.-.e very well 

 |ireserved. 



