450 



MXTGILTD^. 



D. 4 U. 



48. TttugD hypselopterus. 



A.|. L.lat. 23-26, L. transv. 



The height of the body equals the length of the head, and is one- 

 fifth of the total ; head much longer than high. Eye without adipose 

 membrane. The extremity of the maxillary is conspicuous behind 

 and below the angle of the mouth. Fins rather elongate ; the second 

 dorsal is as high as the body below. 



liTiger. 



a. Six inches long. River Niger. From Mr. Fraser's Collection. 



Description of the spebimen. — ^The body is subcylTndrieal anteriorly, 

 compressed posteriorly ; its greatest depth, below the anterior dorsal, 

 equals the length of the head, and is one- 

 fifth of the total. The head is rather elon- 

 gate, its height being two-thirds of its length. 

 The interorbital space is somewhat convex, 

 its width being two-fifths of the length of the 

 head. The snout is of moderate breadth, 

 somewhat pointed, and rather longer than 

 the eye. The angle made by the front mar- 

 gins of the mandibulary bones is nearly a 

 right one, the cleft of the mouth being rather 

 more ^an twice as broad as it is deep. The 

 free space at the chin, between the two man- 

 dibles, is short, lanceolate. The maxillary is 

 bent downwards below and behind the angle 

 of the mouth, where its extremity is visible ; 

 the praeorbital is angularly bent, and has a rounded, denticulated ex- 

 tremity. The upper lip is moderately broad. The nostrils are close 

 together, and the posterior is nearer to the anterior than to the orbit. 

 The pectoral fin is inserted above the middle of the depth of the 

 body, and has no elongate pointed scale in its axil ; it extends to the 

 seventh scale of the lateral line, and its length equals the distance 

 of the opercular margin from the nostril. The base of the ventral 

 is somewhat nearer to that of the pectoral than to the vertical from 

 the dorsal. There are seventeen scales between the snout and the 

 spinous dorsal fin. The latter commences a little nearer to the caudal 

 fin than to the snout, above the eighth scale of the lateral line ; the 

 length of its anterior spine is more than one-half of that of the head, 

 and if laid backwards, it extends nearly to the origin of the soft 

 dorsal. The soft dorsal fin is twice as high as it is long, its height 

 being three-fourths of the length of the head ; it has some scales 

 anteriorly, and if laid backwards, it extends nearly to the base of the 

 caudal. Larger specimens than that from which I take the description 

 may have these fins more remote from one another. The caudal is 

 deeply emarginate, and its length is not quite one-fourth of the total. 

 The anterior third of the anal falls before the origin of the dorsal 

 opposite ; it is as high as, and longer than, the last fin mentioned. 



Colour greenish, shining golden ; top of the dorsal fins blackish. 



M. hypselopterus. 



