110 TRIGLID^. 



is formed by four ridges. The infraorbital plate, articulating with 

 the praeoperculum, is rather broad ; there is another plate between 

 it and the praeorbital; the interoperculum is small, with a rudimentary 

 muciferoiis channel. There are twenty- four vertebrae ; but the hae- 

 mapophysis of each of the last four abdominal vertebrae is not sepa- 

 rated from its fellow. The first interhsemal is suspended on the tenth 

 and eleventh vertebrae. 



3. Scorpseua nstulata. 

 Lowe, Proc. Zool Soc. 1840, p. 36 



D. ^. A. -f. (L. lat. 24.) Vert. 10/14. 



The height of the body is 3f in the total length, the length of the 

 head nearly three times. The head is scaleless, but t?ie cheeks and 

 opercles are pustulate or granulated. The length of the snout is 

 one-fourth of that of the head, the width of the space between the 

 orbits one-seventh or one-eighth. Space between the orbits deeply 

 concave ; (groove on the crown of the head as in Sc. scrofa ;) orbital 

 tentacles none, or small. The fourth dorsal spine is the longest ; 

 the anal spines as in Sc. scrofa (the second the longest). A black 

 blotch between the sixth and ninth dorsal spines ; an irregular 

 chestnut-brown and blackish mark behind the eye, extending prin- 

 cipally over the opercle. 



Sea of Madeira. 



The characters of the above diagnosis have been drawn from MS. 

 notes, kindly communicated to me by the discoverer of the species. 

 The species appears to be of rare occurrence ; and to enable other ob- 

 servers to point out its constant characters, I think it useful to give 

 here some further details of the three specimens examined by Mr. 

 Lowe, and to publish part of his notes as they were written on the spot. 



" First specimen, Nov. 23, 1839. 



" Second specimen, Dec. 24, 1839. This fish is intermediate be- 

 tween Sc. scrofa and Sebastes maderensis. The back is high and 

 gibbous at the nape. The eyes are prominent and raised above the 

 profile, as much as in Sc. scrofa, with the space between them very 

 deep, channelled, and equalling in vndth the semidiameter of the 

 eye. The orbits are toothed, and in all respects as in Sc. scrofa. 

 The muzzle is very short, broad and obtuse, extending only once the 

 diameter of the eye before it (as in Seb. maderensis). The jaws are 

 equal in length, and the tubercle beneath the tip of the lower is in- 

 conspicuous. The hump before the nostrils is very distinct and high. 



" The general disposition of the spines of the bones of the head is 

 most like in Sc. scrofa. "The praeorbital has two or three strong 

 spines in the middle, the uppermost being longest ; its lower angle 

 also is produced downwards into a prominent broad point ; the point 

 of its upper edge is concealed behind the lower point of the nasal ; 

 these two points are the ends of two diverging ribs, between wliich 

 is the pair of spines above mentioned. The infraorbital ridge is 

 toothed precisely in the same way as in Sc. scrofa ; there is, how- 



