308 PRISTIPOMATID^. 



The colour is now entirely uniform, each scale having a darker 

 margin. 



inches, lines. 



Total length 14 



Height of the body 4 1 



Length of the head 4 



of the diameter of the eye 7^ 



of the fourth dorsal spine 1 7^ 



• of the eleventh dorsal spine .... 9 



of the seventh dorsal ray 12 



of the second anal spine 1 1 g 



4. Hsemulon macrostoma. (Plate XVIII.) 

 D. 11 1 3^. A. |. L. lat. 55-58. L. transv. 10/17. 



The height of the body equals the length of the head, and is S^ 

 in the total. The snout is elongate and compressed, and rather more 

 than twice the diameter of the eye, which is 5^ in the length of the 

 head. The cleft of the mouth is very wide, the upper maxillary 

 nearly reaching to the vertical from the anterior marg^in of the eye. 

 Praeoperculum with the posterior hmb nearly vertical, and with 

 obtuse denticulations, which become stronger at the angle, but dis- 

 appear with age. Dorsal fin deeply notched, Avith strong spines, the 

 foiirth being the longest, 2^ in the length of the head, and the last 

 being considerably longer than the eleventh. Caudalis forked ; the 

 second anal spine very strong, scarcely longer than the following, 

 and equal in length to the sixth of the dorsal. The length of the 

 pectoral is 4^ in the total. Five blackish (in a dried state) longi- 

 tudinal bands, one being very distincrfrom the eye to the caudal fin, 

 the others more or less indistinct and interrupted. 



Jamaica. 

 a-c. Adult and half- grown : skins. Jamaica. From Dr. Pamell's 

 Collection. 



Description. — This fish belongs to the group with the cleft of the 

 mouth wide, and with the vertical fins thickly enveloped by scales, 

 and is closely allied to H. elegans, canna, &c. The body is rather 

 elevated, its greatest depth being below the origin of the dorsal fin, 

 and contained 3i in the total length. The length of the head is 

 equal to that height. The mouth is nearly horizontal. The max- 

 illary and intermaxillary may be nearly entirely concealed below the 

 prseorbital, the greatest width of which is one-half more than that 

 of the orbit ; it is covered with scales, like the cheeks and the 

 prfieoperculum. The space between the eyes is convex, larger than 

 the width of the orbit, and scaly nearly to the nostrils, which are 

 situated immediately before the eyes. The eye is nearer the poste- 

 rior margin of the operculum than the end of the snout. The 

 suprascapiJa is scarcely to be distinguished from the scales ; it is in- 

 conspicuously serrated. 



The dorsal fin begins above the base of the pectoral and terminates 



