of the Island of Trinidad^ W. I. 41 



necessary to regard the Trinidad fisli as a distinct species, the 

 name of H. sapidissimum may be given, in allusion to the 

 esteem in which it is held in the island as an article of food. 



Hoplosternuiii ISteTarclii, Gill. 



Yernaculak : Cascadura. 



This species is very closely allied to the Iloplosternum Isevi- 

 gatum, but the description which we proceed to furnish will 

 prove that it is quite distinct. 



It attains a larger size than the preceding ; the two males 

 which are in our possession being between eight and nine 

 inches in length from the muzzle, to the ends of the lobes of 

 the caudal fin ; in this length, the head is contained about four 

 times and two-thirds, and is slightly shorter than the body is 

 high at the dorsal sj^ine : the profile slopes with a slight but 

 continuous curve from this point to the snout. The entire 

 surface of the casque is very closely pitted, and the raised lines 

 between them form a coarse network. These pits are also 

 finely granulated, and the surface thus assumes, when viewed 

 under a magnifier, an appearance slightly resembling that of 

 the brain coral {Meandrina). The naked interspace between 

 the anterior frontals, or the " solution of continuity," is of an 

 oval form, and is shorter and broader than in Jloplostermmi 

 IcBvigaium / it extends for about three-quarters of the distance 

 of the inner margins of the frontal f)lates, terminating posteriorly 

 at the interparietal, the anterior angle of which plate is slightly 

 truncated ; anteriorly, this interspace is rounded ; the anterior 

 azygous triangular plate between the anterior frontals is of 

 moderate size. 



The eyes appear to be smaller than in the Hojplosternwni 

 Icemgatum, the diameters of the orbits being rather less than 

 a seventh of the entire length of the head from the snout to the 



