20. SKRKANUS. 101 



Skeleton. — The upper surface of the skiill is rather broad, and 

 di^'ided into two lateral halves by the high supraoccipital crest, 

 wliich extends to the level of the anterior third of the eye. The 

 crest is thin, transparent, and rounded behind; the two lateral 

 crests between the orbit and the suprascapula are also well developed. 

 Just beneath the anterior end of the supraoccipital crest is a broad 

 and open cavity for receiving the posterior processes of the inter- 

 maxillaries. The intermaxillary is about two-thirds of the length 

 of the maxUlary, and has a very prominent flat process behind. 

 The maxillary gradually vddcns, and has a rather convex superior 

 margin and a rather concave inferior one ; the supplementary bone 

 is narrow. The greater part of the i)rtEorbital is as broad as the 

 posterior infraorbital arch ; the latter with a very broad and exca- 

 vated inner plate for supporting the eyeball from beneath. 



Operculum with three spines, the two lower of which are close 

 together ; the sub- and interoperculum are without any serrature 

 in tliis specimen. The angle of the proeoperculum is rounded, and 

 furnished with several obsolete and obtuse denticulations ; the pos- 

 terior serrature of the bone is minute. 



The dentition is feeble : there is in the upper and lower ja^vs a 

 pair of small canines ; 'there are no lateral canines ;. the other teeth 

 are in villiform bands, that of the intermaxillary reaching nearly to 

 the extremity of the bone, and with an outer series of scarcely larger 

 teeth. The vomerine teeth form a tiiangular patch with a rather 

 concave posterior side. The palatine teeth form a cuneiform band, 

 broader in front, and not extending beyond that bone. 



Ten abdominal and foiu'tecn caudal vertebrce. The interhaemal is 

 attached to the haemal spine of the eleventh vertebra, of moderate 

 strength, and equal to the length of the first to the seventh vertebra. 



3. Serranus colonus. 



Valenc. Voy. Venus, Zool. p. 300. pi. 2. f. 1 (not good). 



D.^. A.f„. L.lat.l20. 



Snout short ; praeoperculum finely serrated ; caudal fin deeply 

 forked, with elongate lobes. Uniform yellow. ( Vol.) 

 Galapagos Archipelago. 



4. Serranus louti. 



Seba, iii. 27. 7; Rc7iard, t. 41. f. 207, t. 21. f. 100; Valentyn, p. 412. 



f. 205. 

 Perca louti, Forskal, p. 40. 

 Labrus punctatus, Laccp. iii. p. 377. pi. 17. f. 2. 

 Bodianus louti, Bl. Schn. p. 332 ; Lacep. iv. p. 286. 

 Serranus punctulatus, Ciw. Sf Val. ii. p. 367, ix. p. 435 ; Bleek. Sum. 



i. p. 570 ; Quoi/ 8f Gaim. Voy. Astral. Poiss. p. 654. pi. 3. f. 2. 

 louti, Riipp. Atl. p. 106. pi. 26. f. 2 (not Val). 



_9_ 

 3-1 



Caudalis deeply forked, with elongate lobes ; dorsal, anal and ven- 



D. rrV.- A. I. L. lat. 100. Vert. 10/14. 



1J-I4 8 



