88 
ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
fins, and all its other characters, it is exactly similar. The fin-ray formula is a little 
different ; 
D:-13)/20:; A. 23> &e.—— 
The colours, also, as they appear in spirits, are rather different. The general ground of 
the body is olivaceous grey, but paler than in the male specimen, and inclining to yellowish, 
with faint indications of vertical bands, and also a few dark spots towards the tail end. 
Dorsal and anal spotted, the former more so than the latter. Mr. Darwin’s notes, taken from 
the recent fish, merely state,—“ with dull red transverse lines.” 
The S. quadricornis is stated by Cuvier and Valenciennes to be very common 
at the Mauritius, whence it may not improbably range as far eastward as the 
Keeling Islands. 
3. SALARIAS vomERINUS. Cuv. et Val. ? 
Salarias vomerinus? Cuz, et Val. Hist. des Poiss. tom. xi. p- 258. 
Puate XVII. Fig. 3. 
Form.—Elongated and compressed, the thickest part being in the region of the gills. Greatest 
depth contained about six and a-half times in the entire length: thickness at the pectorals 
about two-thirds of the depth, or rather more. Length of the head rather exceeding the depth 
of the body, and exceeding its own depth by about one-fourth. Snout obtuse; broad and 
rounded when viewed from above. Lips crenated at the sides of the mouth, but not in the 
middle. Teeth in the jaws moveable, extremely fine and numerous: two long canines at the 
bottom of the lower jaw, curving backwards, and fitting into two corresponding holes in the 
palate: also a transverse row of minute teeth on the front of the vomer. Profile nearly ver- 
tical; the eyes placed just within the angle formed by it with the line of the crown. Two 
broad palmated superciliary filaments, not equal in length to the diameter of the eyes: two 
similar ones at the nostrils, each consisting of six or eight bristles: also two short simple 
filaments, one on each side of the nape. 
The dorsal, which commences a little behind the nuchal filaments, is so deeply notched 
behind the twelfth ray as almost to appear like two fins. The height of the anterior or spinous 
portion is about two-fifths of the depth: the posterior is more elevated, equalling three-fourths 
of the depth: this portion is connected by its membrane with the upper part of the tail, but 
does not reach to the caudal, leaving an interval just equal to half the depth of the tail at this 
point. The anal commences opposite the eleventh ray of the dorsal, and does not reach so far 
as that fin, leaving three times the space between it and the caudal: the first two rays short 
and soft, the first scarcely connected by membrane with those that follow; the membrane 
deeply notched between all the rays, excepting the last three, where it is continuous. Caudal 
slightly rounded at the extremity. Pectorals broad, but a little pointed when the rays are not 
spread out ; longer than the head, the fifth and sixth rays from the bottom being longest. Ven- 
trals short, only half the length of the pectorals, or one-tenth of the entire length, consisting 
(which is unusual in this genus) of four distinct rays, two shorter and slender ones, besides the 
two ordinary thick ones. 
The lateral line is faintly indicated by a fine line which sweeps over the pectorals, and then 
passes off straight along the middle. As far as the pectorals reach, the line is continuous : 
