360 MALACANXniD.E. 



y. Adult : skin. West Indies. Purchased of Mr. Scrivener. 

 h. Adult female : skeleton. From the Haslar Collection. 

 i. Ovaria of specimen h. 



Valenciennes had already pointed out that the abdominal cavity- 

 extends into the tail, that is, into the portion behind the anus and 

 behind the origin of the anal fin. He examined a male specimen : 

 and to this I may add, that the ovaria are perfectly separated from 

 each other, and that each of them is divided into two lobes by a very 

 deep anterior notch. 



SJceleton. — The maxillar)' is much broader in its upper half than 

 in its lower, and not longer than the intermaxillary ; the latter is 

 armed ■with a series of strong teeth : the three or four anterior ones 

 arc the strongest and curved ; the lateral, twenty in number, are 

 slightly bent inwards ; and the posterior, again, is stronger and curved 

 forwards : there is a band of villiform teeth interiorly to the series 

 described, and broadest anteriorly. The mandibula also has an outer 

 series of stronger teeth ; four of them, situated on the middle of the 

 side, are the strongest and curved backwards, Avhilst ten smaller 

 ones, occupjang the posterior part of the bone, are bent forwards : 

 there is a broad patch of villiform teeth on the anterior part of the 

 jaw. The vomer and the palatines arc flat and smooth. The 

 pra3opcrculum has no ridge or muciferous channel ; its limbs are 

 of equal length, and meet at an obtuse angle, which, however, is 

 rounded. Tiie operculum is armed with a strong, flat spine ; sub- 

 and interoperculum narrow, the latter rather elongate. The tur- 

 binal bone and the praeorbital are long ; the remainder of the infra- 

 orbital ring is very narrow and feeble, but provided interiorly mth 

 a broad concave plate, to support the eyeball from beneath. The 

 upper part of the skull is rather flat, and the bones forming the 

 brain-capsule are thin, semitransjiarent. There are some sb'ght 

 ridges posteriorly, the most feeble of which is the occipital crest ; 

 the ridges to which the suprascapula is attached are much stronger. 

 The coracoid is exceedingly broad, formed by tAVO bones. 



The length of the vertebral column is not caused by an increased 

 number of the vertebrae, but by the single vertebra? being con- 

 siderably elongate. The abdominal portion is formed by ten, the 

 caudal by fourteen vertebrae, and the length of the former is to that 

 of the latter as 1:1-5. The first vertebra is much compressed in its 

 longitudinal diameter. The ribs are slender, and provided Avith 

 cpipleural spines. The haemal canal, below the first two caudal 

 vertebrae, is extremely wide, the haemal spines forming a complete 

 arch. The anal fin is continued anteriorly considerably below the 

 abdominal cavity ; and there are no haemals corresponding to the 

 rays by which this part of the fin is formed. 



2. Malacanthus latovittatus. 



Jjabrus lato-vittatus, Lacep. iii. p. 527. pi. 28. fig. 2. 

 Tpenianotu* lato-vittatus, Lnc^p. iv. p. 304 (not pi. 3. fig. 2>. 



