8. ECHENEIS. .383 



edged with whitish, from the suout, through the eye, along the side 

 of the body and the tail. 

 Atlantic. 



a. Twelve inches long. Jamaica. From the Collection of the Zoo- 



logical Society. 



b, c. Twelve inches long: skins. Jar>^"ica. From Dr. Pamell's 



Collection. 



Description. — This species is very similar to E. naucrates, with 

 which it may be easily confounded. The chief difTerence is in the 

 disk, which, although composed of fewer laminae, is relativelj' longer 

 when compared with the entire length of the fish. In the specimens 

 which have come under my observation, and also in those which have 

 served for Holbrook's description, the number of laminae has been 

 constantly found to be twenty-one — a number of very rare occur- 

 rence in E. 'naucrates. The disk is an elongate ovoid, broader pos- 

 teriorly than anteriorly, with the membranaceous margin depressed. 

 The mouth is rounded and much depressed, the lower jaw tenninating 

 in a soft and sUghtly pointed flap. The fold in which the maxillaiy 

 bone is received, reaches to the vertical drawn from the space be- 

 tween the nostrils and the eye. The jaws, the vomer and palatine 

 bones and the tongue are armed with broad bands of villiform teeth ; 

 the vomer, besides, has an anterior transverse series of rather stronger 

 teeth. 



The length of the head is 5^ in the total, the width of the body 

 between the pectorals one-eighth. The body tapers posteriorly, and 

 the posterior part of the tail is rather slender and cylindiical. The 

 whole body is covered witb minute scales. 



The pectoral is subtriangular, slightly pointed, one -eighth of the 

 total length : the ventral is inserted in the vertical from the pos- 

 terior part of the root of the pectoral ; it is composed of five rays 

 and one spine, hidden below the skin ; its length is one-tenth of the 

 total. The soft dorsal begins at a distance from the disk which is 

 rather more than the length of the head, and tcnninates shortly before 

 the caudal. The origin and the termination of the anal correspond 

 to those of the opposite fin. The caudal is truncated, or very shghtly 

 convex, in specimens 1 foot in length. 



In specimens of this age — and they are apparently not yet ma- 

 ture — the dorsal and caudal fins have a jiarrow, the caudal a broad 

 upper and lower white margin. 



inches, lines. 



Total length 12 



Length of the head 2 3 



Width between the base of the pectorals . . 1 6 • 



Length of the disk 3 2 



Greatest width of the disk 1 1^ 



Distance between the soft dorsal and the disk 2 5 



Diameter of the eye 5 



Length of the pectoral 1 6 



of the ventral 1 2 



