198 GIGANTIC SUDIS. 



" Caput magnum, depressissimum, extus osseum. Os am- 

 plissimum, transvcrsum, in toto suo margine dentibus elongatis, 

 conicis armatum ; in palato denies velutini ; ossa inter-maxil- 

 laria sat's lata marginem superiorem, ossa nfaxillaria superiora 

 retrorsum subareuata, angusta, margines lateres maxillae supe- 

 rioris conformant oculi et nares ad rostri apieem. IMembrana 

 branchiostega radiis 1 1. Corpus elongatum, compressum, squa- 

 mis magnis osseis tectum. Pinna dorsalis longissima anali op- 

 poska ad caudae apieem usque produeta." 



GIGANTIC SUDIS. 

 Sudis gigas, Cuv. 



PLATE XI. 



Les vastr^s, Sudis, Cuv. Reg.Anim. ii. p. 327 Sudis pirarucu, 



Spit^ pi. xvi. p. 31. — Pirarucu or Arapaima, Schomb. Draw- 

 ings. 



In the d^a^ving of this fish, the head and fore part 

 of the body is more attenuated than in the figure of 

 Spix, and the snout or upper jaw, slightly shorter 

 than the lower, is turned up. The body is entirely 

 covered with large scales, round on their posterior 

 edge, and the base of the dorsal and anal fins, thick- 

 ened and muscular where they leave the line of the 

 body, are scaled upward, for two-thirds of their 

 depth, or until the rays are given off with a separate 

 dividing membrane; at their termination succeeds 



