FISH. 107 
length: thickness twice and three-fifths in the depth. Head one-fourth of the entire length, 
rather elevated at the nape, the forehead convex, whence the profile descends nearly in the arc 
of a circle, giving the snout a blunt and rounded appearance. The height of the head, taken 
in a vertical line through the eyes, equals nearly but not quite its own length. Mouth small, 
the gape not reaching half-way to the eye. Jaws very slightly crenated on their cutting 
edges, the true teeth appearing on the outer surface like minute scales. At the posterior angle 
of each jaw, and on each side, are two sharp canines projecting horizontally from the corners 
of the mouth, eight in all. Eyes rather small, their diameter contained six-and-a-half times in 
the length of the head, situate a little above the middle of the cheek, and a trifle nearer the 
extremity of the snout than the posterior margin of the opercle. The nostrils consist of two 
minute orifices a little in advance of the eye, and a little distant from each other, the posterior 
one largest and kidney-shaped, the anterior round and nearly closed by its membranous 
border. A cluster of minute pores above and behind the eyes, and a few others scattered about 
the snout. 
Scales on the body very large, increasing in size at the base of the caudal, where there are 
three very large ones covering the rays of that fin for half their length or more: twenty-three 
in a longitudinal line, and nine in the depth. Each scale of a roundish form anteriorly, the 
basal portion with a projecting lobe in the middle of the hinder margin, and with thirty-one 
strie in the fan; the exposed portion finely striated and granulated, with a broad mem- 
branaceous border: those on the caudal nearly three times as long as broad, but the ordinary 
ones with the length and breadth nearly equal. Lateral line interrupted; the upper portion 
running nearly straight at about one-fourth of the depth, till opposite the end of the dorsal, 
where it inclines downwards: tubal pores very distinctly ramified. 
Dorsal very low, its height, in the middle of its length, being scarcely more than one- 
eighth of the depth: the soft rays slightly higher than the spinous, and increasing in length 
backwards. Anal answering to the last half of the dorsal, and terminating in the same line: 
three spines at its commencement not stouter than the soft rays, the first very small. The 
last soft ray in both dorsal and anal double. Caudal with the points about one-fourth of the 
rest of its length; when spread, the interval is rectilineal, but when the rays are closed the 
whole appears crescent-shaped. Pectorals a little shorter than the head, of a somewhat trian- 
gular form, the rays gradually decreasing in length from the uppermost to the lowermost. 
Ventrals pointed, about two-thirds the length of the pectorals, and immediately beneath them. 
A large oblong lanceolate scale between the ventrals, nearly half their length: also an oblong 
scale in the axilla of each, equalling the last of the soft rays. 
D. 9/10 = A..3/9: C518; &e.3 P13; V.1/5. 
Length 11 inches. 
Cotour.—Not noticed in the recent state. In spirits, it appears bluish grey on the back and sides 
with small round whitish spots, the margin of each scale being defined by a purplish line ; paler 
on the belly: a white transverse line in front of the eyes passing from one to the other; 
anterior part of the snout, mouth, cheeks, and lower part of the head, yellowish white. Dorsal 
and anal pale, the former with three narrow longitudinal purplish lines, the latter with one. A 
portion of the under surface of the pectorals, extending from the third to the fifth ray, and 
