X TABLE OF THE PLATES. 



PISCES. Vol. 11. Page 



Plate 28. bis. Fig. 2. — Lkpipterl's Fkancisci, Cut. (The Lepiptere of the 



Island of St. Franch)* . . .111 



Fig. 3. — C()RviNA ocELLATA, Ciiv. (The Spotted Corvina) . 1 10 



Fig. 4. — Anatomical details of the Brain of the Anabas sennat.. 144 

 Fig. 5. — Anatomical details of the Brain of the Ophicephale. 146 



2nd. Plate 28. bis. Fig. 1. — Fogonias fasciatus, Cuv. {The Banded Pogonias) 110 

 Fig. 2. — Umbrina coroides, Cuv. . . .110 



Fig. 3. — MicuopoGON uneatus, Cuv. ; Umbrina fourneiri, 



Desmar. . . . .111 



whole of this fish is silvered; its back, tinted with grey brown, has brownish oblique 

 lines, which descend in advancing towards the tail; on the flank these lines become 

 longitudinal ; a little lower down they fade away ; and there are none on the lower 

 part. The membrane of the first dorsal is blackish, with a white triangular spot at 

 its base in each interval of the rays. The individual from which our drawing was 

 taken, is seven to eight inches in length. It was M. Delalande who brought the 

 first Larimes to Europe from Brazils, but there have been recently several received 

 from St. Domingo through M. Ricord. It is called in that island silver-fish, on account 

 of its colour, which in its fresh state is as brilliant (according to our traveller) as that 

 of the purest mercury. M. Ricord adds that this fish is a foot long, that its flesh is 

 bad, and only eaten by the poor. 



' The name of Lepipterus designates Sciienoides with two dorsals, teeth as the 

 pile on velvet, prolonged snout, the front of the cranium rather concave, and the 

 vertical fins of which, are very scaly. We know only one — the Lepipterus Fran- 

 cisci. This fish seems also to resemble the Corvina, by its soft teeth and. its large 

 anal spine : but it is a Corvina with the front of the cranium lengthened, and even 

 a little concave ; besides, the scales which cover its second dorsal, and its caudal, 

 approximates it to the Eques and to the'Polynemes. Its general appearance is 

 •imilar to the Otolithus taroe, Cut. ; but, with a little attention, it is easily distin- 

 guished from it. It is a fish altogether of an elongated form, head long, front of 

 the cranium rather concave. Its height is only the sixth of its length, and its head 

 is almost the fourth ; but its head is a third less in height than in length. The under 

 orbital, covered by scales, which do not permit us to distinguish it from the cheek, 

 forms a border, under which the upper jaw retires, as in the Ombrinas ; the mouth is 

 very small,and it has very fine soft teeth, like the pile on velvet, in the two jaws only. 

 All the opercular pieces are scaly, like the cranium and the snout. The preoper- 

 culum has some indentations slightly marked towards its angle, which is rounded. 

 The bone of the operculum ends by a single flat point. The pectoral is moderate and 

 pointed ; the ventral proceeds a little further buck than it, and passes it. The first 

 dorsal rises in the middle of the pectoral; it has ten spiny rays, very weak and 

 little elevated, the first of which is very short ; the second dorsal has a spiny ray 

 and thirty-three soft ones; it is nearly of equal height everywhere. The caudal is 

 Dunded. They are both completely scaly, so that even in the caudal it is difficult to 

 count the rays. The anal only occupies a small space in length, under the middle 

 of the second dorsal. It is twice as high as it is long. Its first spine is very short ; 

 the second, compressed ana arched like a sabre, is wider and stronger than in any 

 other Scioena ; there are afterwards seven soft rays and some scales between them. 

 The scales of the body are smuoth, fine, and slightly striated on the edges. There 

 is one stout spine, rather free, but not scaly, formed by the coracoidien, in the middle 

 of the pectoral. The lateral line is nearly parallel to the back, and marked by simple 

 but continuous tubercles. 



This fish is nineteen or twenty inches long, is entirely of silver colour, with 

 very numerous obli(iue, grey, or bluish lines throughout its entire length. There is 

 a continuation of brown lines in the intervals of the rays of the first dorsal, and 

 brown dots on those of the second. The other fius have only spots. This is one 

 of the numerous acquisitions to natural history, procured by JNI. Augustine St. 

 Hilaire. He took it ia the river of St. Francis, in Brazilsi. 



