Fishes taken at Madeira. 243 



of the height are convex towards the head. Of these, 27 were 

 counted between the operclc and the end of the dorsal fin. 



The height compared with the total length is as 1 to 5f ; the 

 head compared with the total length is as 1 to 4£. The vertex, 

 opercles, and mandible of the unarmed head are scaly. Between 

 the eyes it is slightly arched, and there is a low ridge along the 

 nape and vertex, extending from the dorsal fin to the neighbour- 

 hood of the eyes. The short truncate snout is somewhat swollen 

 at the sides, and there is a triangular depression at each side in 

 the space between the eye, the upper jaw, and the snout. The 

 round eye does not reach to the profile, and its diameter com- 

 pared with the head is as 1 to 4i. It is distant about a dia- 

 meter from the snout, whilst the thickness of the head from eye 

 to eye is rather more. The nostrils are some distance from the 

 eye, and there are two small round openings into each sac. The 

 nasal region is marked by some conspicuous mucus-pores. The 

 mouth is small, the rictus being less than the width at the angle 

 of the jaws. The lower jaw shuts inside the upper; the maxil- 

 lary scarcely reaches back to the vertical from the anterior 

 border of the eye. When the mouth is closed, both the pre- 

 maxillary and the maxillary are covered by the broad thin bone 

 behind them. The upper side of the mouth is formed entirely 

 of the premaxillary, which, like the lower jaw, carries a single 

 row of minute sharp teeth. These are set close together, and are 

 rather longer in front. There is a large oval patch of minute 

 teeth on the roof of the mouth behind the vomer, which is also 

 armed with teeth, but there are none on the edge of the pala- 

 tines. The fore part of the tongue is thin and dilated, and the 

 hinder part is armed with a patch of teeth. The mouth, as well 

 as the inside of the gill-covers, is black. Pseudobranchiae are 

 present. The rakers of the first pair of free gills have small 

 spines on their inner sides. There is a sinus at the posterior 

 edge of the opercle ; and the edge of the interopercle is minutely 

 denticulate. The lower border of the preopercle is striate, but 

 the edge is simple. 



The dorsal fin, which commences over the roots of the pectoral 

 fins, has no free spines before it. Its anterior portion consists 

 of twelve spines, but it is so deeply cleft between the eleventh 

 and twelfth spines as to be almost formed into two fins. The 

 spinous portion is triangular, and higher, though shorter, than 

 the rest. The spines are weak; the first very short, half the 

 length of the second. The longest spine is the fourth ; the 

 eleventh is very small ; and the twelfth is attached to the soft 

 portion of the fin, and almost equal to the ninth. The soft 

 portion is angular, and rather produced behind, the base being 

 scaly. The pointed pectoral fins are much longer than the 



