6. VACUYMETOrON. 425 



of tlie neck is strongly curved, and passes into a very prominent 

 rounded protuberance between the eyes. The greatest height of the 

 body is above the root of the ventrals, and ono-third in the total 

 length ; the head is rather short, one-fifth of the total length, and 

 distinguished by the convex prominence across the forehead. The 

 width between the eyes is 24 in the length of the head. The snout 

 is elevated, short, and obtuse, with the cleft of the mouth rather 

 email, the upper maxillary reaching to the vertical from the pos- 

 terior nostril. The posterior portion of the mandibula is scaly. 

 The praeorbital is rather longer than wide, and naked, like the upper 

 part of the skull. The eye is of moderate size, and contained 4i in 

 the length of the head, or 1| in that of the snout. The nostrils are 

 situated before the upper angle of the orbit, and rather remote from 

 each other; the posterior is an elongate slit, the anterior more 

 rounded. The cheek is covered with six series of scales, but a 

 broad marginal space of the praeoperculum is scaleless ; the pos- 

 terior margin of the praeoperculum is straight, slightly oblique ; 

 the angle is rounded and minutely serrated ; the inferior margin 

 convex, and about half as long as the posterior. The other opercles 

 are covered with scales, without any. spines or denticulations. The 

 suprascapula is much larger than a scale, and indistinctly striated ; 

 a series of scales, similarly striated, ascends from the suprascapula 

 to the neck. 



The distance of the occiput from the dorsal fin nearly equals that 

 from the end of the snout. The fin is continuous, and its soft por- 

 tion is enveloped in a scaly coat to one-half of its height. Its origin 

 falls vertically above the root of the pectoral, and its end above the 

 sixty-third scale of the lateral line. The spines are moderate ; the 

 fifth is one of the highest, and about 24 in the length of the head. 

 The soft dorsal nearly equals the same height. The distance between 

 the caudal and dorsal fins nearly equals the height of the tail beneath 

 the dorsal fin. The caudal fin is densely covered and entirely hidden 

 by minute scales ; it is emarginate, with the lobes pointed, one of 

 the middle rays being rather less than one-half of the length of a 

 lobe. The anal fin is scaly to the same extent as the soft dorsal ; 

 its origin falls vertically rather behind that of the soft portion of the 

 dorsal ; the spines are rather strong ; the first is one-half of the 

 length of the second ; the second rather stronger, but not longer 

 than the third, and about two- thirds the length of the longest dorsal 

 spine. The rays appear to be equal to one another, and to those of 

 the dorsal fin. The pectoral fin is 3| in the total length, and reaches 

 to the origin of the anal ; the fifth ray exceeds the others in length ; 

 the basal portion of the fin is densely covered with scales. The 

 root of the ventral falls entirely behind that of the pectoral ; the fin 

 has a moderately strong spine, about two-thii-ds of the length of the 

 adjacent ray, and reaches nearly to the vent. 



The scales arc of moderate size, not ciliated, higher than long ; 

 one of the largest covers one-half of the eye. 



The teeth forming the outer seiies arc tiiangular, broad, with 

 pointed extremities, sixteen in the upper jaw and twenty-two in the 



