MELAMPHAES NIGROFULVUS. 65 
row behind the head, depth two sevenths and width one fifth of the length 
to the base of the caudal; body cavity more than one half of the total 
length. Head large, rather more than two fifths of the distance from the 
snout to the base of the caudal, height more than two thirds and width less 
than one half of the length, blunt, poimted at the snout, very convex on the 
top; skull with prominent ridges and processes enclosing the extensive 
chambers and canals of the lateral system; chin with a prominent median 
keel and two lateral keels on the mandibles, the median keel being formed 
by appression of the thin lower edges of the two bones. Snout massive, as 
long as the orbit, pointed. Mouth large, oblique, maxillary reaching below 
two thirds of the eye, lower jaws longer, with a sharp angle at the symphy- 
sis. Teeth small, subequal, in one or two series on the jaws, absent from 
vomer and palatines. Nostrils small, nearer to the eye than to the end of 
the snout. Eye medium, five eighths of the length of the snout, less than 
half of the interorbital space, about one sixth as long as the head. Ridges 
of skull more or less serrated; a prominent expansion at each side of the 
crown bending outward and bearing a spine at the scapular end; a promi- 
nent ridge above and forward of each orbit, another above each maxillary ; a 
prominent spine on the middle of the internarial area, three small spines close 
together at the angle on the anterior ridge of the preopercle, and five short 
spines on the lower section and three or four on the upper section of the 
posterior ridge of the same bone. Operculum thin, with a longitudinal 
ridge ending in a short spine. Each scapular with a ridge above and a 
short outward directed spine at the side of the nape. Gill lamellae very 
short; gill rakers eight plus twenty, longest as long as the eye, compressed, 
sharp pointed, ensiform; gill covers membranous toward the edges. 
Pseudobranchiz small. Scales large, cycloid, thin, deciduous, concentri- 
cally striate with fine striae. Lateral system greatly developed on the 
head, the disks resembling those of Lamprogrammus and others, see Plate 
LXXXL., obsolescent on the body. 
Dorsal origin very little backward of midway from the snout to the base 
of the caudal, last ray above the seventh ray of the anal; anal origin below 
the eleventh ray of the dorsal. Caudal peduncle moderate, narrow, two 
and one half times as long as deep. Pectorals narrow, pointed, second ray 
reaching to hind end of base of anal (figured from an imperfect specimen 
on Plate D, fig. 2). Ventrals elongate, reaching the vent. 
The colors of a fresh specimen are represented on Plate D, fig. 2; on 
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