26. SEKRANUS. 121 



The upper maxillary bone without process and wdth nearly straight- 

 lined margins. Operculum with three veiy acute prominent spines, 

 the upper two of which are longest, and much more distant from one 

 another than the middle from the lower; the praeoperculum rounded 

 throughout, with very fine and equal denticulations at the posterior 

 limb ; sub- and interoperculum entire. The dentition is the same 

 as in S. coronatus, but the posterior front teeth of the upper jaw 

 are not quite so long as in that species. There are ten abdominal 

 and fourteen caudal vertebrae. The first interhsemal spine is equal 

 to the length of the second to the seventh vertebra, and attached 

 to the hajmal of the first caudal verte' ra. 



Castelnau {I.e. pi. 1. f. 3) gives a tolerably good figure of a fish 

 named Serramis ouatalibi, but certainly different from it. The figure 

 being imaccompanied by a proper description, we arc unable to de- 

 termine the species from it alone. 



47. Serranus taeniops. 



Seba, iii. 27. 6. 



Serranus tseniops, Cur. ^ Val. ii. p. 370. 



D. ^. A. ^. Coec. pylor. 7. Vert. 10 14. 



Caudalis rounded. The height of the body is one-fourth of the 

 total length ; the length of the head is 3^ in the same length ; the 

 diameter of the eye nearly one-sixth of the length of the head ; the 

 upper maxillary bone reaching behind the level of the posterior 

 margin of the eye. Denticulations of the praeoperculum conspicuous. 

 Red (in life) ; head, body, and fins ^vith numerous small, round, blue, 

 black-edged spots ; between eye and muzzle two dark-blue streaks ; 

 fins blue-edged. 



Atlantic, between Africa and Tropical America. 



a. Adult. St. Vincent's. Presented by the Lords of the Admiralty. 

 h. Adult. Atlantic. From the Haslar Collection. 



c. Adult. Atlantic. From the Haslar Collection. 



d. Adult. Atlantic. From the Haslar Collection. 



e. Adult: male: skeleton. Atlantic. From the Haslar Collection. 

 /. Adult. S. Africa. From Mr, Stevens's Collection. 



Skeleton. — The paroccipital and parietal bones form together a 

 slight convexity, whilst the space between the orbital margins is 

 rather concave ; the ridges are slightly developed ; the posterior part 

 of- the occipital crest is oblong, quadrangular, higher than long, and 

 emits a low longitudinal bianeh along the medial line of the upper 

 part of the supraoccipifal bone, but which does not extend on the 

 frontals. The suprascapula is evidently separated into two bones — 

 an interior, which articulates with the cxoccipital ; and an outer one, 

 articulating with the mastoid bone ; from both articulations nin 

 parallel longitudinal ridges to the orbit ; the interior one is very 

 inconspicuous in this species, but is strongly dcvclo]>ed in S. undu- 

 losiis ; the exterior ridge is not high, but very strong. The max- 



