32 



above the eye, and there are eight or nine narrow oblique 

 streaks on the side, which diminish to mere spots beyond 

 the vent. The lateral line descends gradually from the 

 suprascapula to within two inches of the ventral profile 

 at the vent, and continues descending as it proceeds to 

 the distal end of the fish. Four flattened ridges, each 

 more than an inch in breadth, reach from the head to the 

 tail above the lateral line, the longest and uppermost 

 commencing near the eye. The skin is studded with 

 numerous bony tubercles not regularly arranged, and in 

 the neighbourhood of the head they are replaced by de- 

 pressed indurations. On the ventral edge the tubercles 

 are numerous and have hooked tips pointing towards the 

 tail. 



The head is small, measuring only nine inches to the 

 gill-opening ; the orifice of the mouth is circular and 

 capable of being protruded two or three inches by the 

 depression of the mandible. The tongue is small, smooth, 

 and prominent; there are no teeth, and the interior of 

 the mouth is black. Gill -plates proportionally large, 

 preoperculum crescentic, with the lower horn prolonged 

 forwards to the articulation of the mandible. Operculum 

 curved elliptically posteriorly, ending obtusely. Branchi- 

 ostegals seven. Branchial arches four, with tubercular 

 bristly rakers. Pharyngeal bones above and below fur- 

 nished with setaceous teeth. 



The dorsal fin extends from between the front of the 

 orbits to within three inches of the distal extremity of 

 the fish. The twelve anterior rays were stated by the 

 captors to have been about fourteen inches long, and fur- 

 nished with a membrane on their posterior edges, which 

 grew wider upwards, somewhat like a peacock's feather. 

 The ends were broken off, but a continuous membrane 

 connected their bases, and their shafts appeared ragged 



