456 MUOILIDJE. 



h-d, e. Adult, half-gTown, and young. England. Purchased. 



/, Half- grown: skin. London market. From Mr. Yarrell's Col- 

 lection. 



g. Preparation of the pharyi>geal apparatus and of the intestines of 

 male and female. Presented by Dr. A. Giinther. 



h, i. Adult : skeletons. England. 



Description. — The height of the body is contained four times and 

 a half to four times and two-thirds in the total length, the length 

 of the head five times to five times and a half. The head is some- 

 what elevated and short, the snout being obtuse. The interorbital 

 space is convex, and its width is one-half of the length of the head. 

 The upjx;r lip is thick, but .thinner than in M. chelo ; its inferior 

 third has a whitish colour, and is provided with two series of short 

 and fiat papillae. The wangle made by the anterior margins of the 

 mandibles is obtuse, and the cleft of the mouth is at least thrice 

 as broad as it is deep. A long portion of the maxillary is visible 

 behind and below the angle of the mouth. The proeorbital is 

 much more obliquely truncated than in M. cJielo, its hinder angle 

 being pointed, whilst the anterior is very obtuse and more or less 

 rounded ; the edge between the two angles is minutely serrated. 

 The mandibles are very broad, and nearly entirely cover the chin ; 

 but a very narrow strij) of the chin always appears to remain un- 

 covered even in very old individuals. The nostrils are close together, 

 situated nearer to the orbits than to the end of the snout. Adipose 

 eyelid none. There are twenty-six scales between the snout and the 

 spinous dorsal fin ; the latter commences exactly on the middle be- 

 tween the snout and the base of the caudal fin, the tail of this 

 species being somewhat longer than in M. chelo ; the two anterior 

 dorsal spines are rather stout, of equal length, and one-half as long- 

 as the head ; pointed scales extend along the whole length of its base. 

 The soft dorsal fin is higher than the spinous, and commences above 

 the twenty- seventh scale of the lateral line, or above the first soil 

 ray of the anal. The caudal fin is forked, the length of each lobo 

 being equal to, or rather more than, that of the head. Anal as high 

 as the fin opposite. The pectoral is inserted somewhat above the 

 middle of the depth of the body, and has no pointed scale in its axil ; 

 it is considerably shorter than in M. chelo, extending only to the 

 tenth scale of the lateral hne, whilst the origin of the spinous dorsal 

 corresponds to the fifteenth ; its length is nearly equal to the di- 

 stance of the posterior nostril from the end of the operculum. The 

 ventral is inserted midway between pectoral and dorsal fins. 



Back greenish, lighter on the sides and silvery below ; dark green- 

 ish stripes along the series of scales. 



Length of the largest specimen twenty-three inches. 



On the anatomy, see p. 410. 



This species is closely allied to M. chelo, with which it has hitherto 

 been confounded ; but it may be readily distinguished by its shorter 

 pectoral fin, its thinner upper lip, the different form of the pnoorbital, 

 and its longer tail. It has two pyloric appendages less. 



