LOTA VULGARIS. 83 



of the head ; and the height about one-half the head length. Under the first 

 dorsal fin the height and thickness are about equal. The diameter of the eye, 

 which is placed laterally, is one-seventh of the length of the head. The 

 iris is golden. The nares are small ; the anterior nasal aperture has a raised 

 lobe of skin, hardly amounting to a barbel. It is placed midway between 

 the eye and the end of the snout. The gape of the mouth is wide, and 

 reaches back to the eye. Its outline is semicircular. The fleshy upper 

 lip projects over the lower lip, which has a long barbel under the middle 

 of the chin, and near it is sometimes a shorter barbel. There are small 

 pointed teeth on the pre-maxillary bone, and in the mandible, where 



Fig. 30. LOTA vri.c.Aius. 



they are arranged in dense rows; and there is a broader row on the pre- 

 maxillary, parallel to the ligament between the bones. The teeth on the 

 vomer are stronger. 



The gill-aperture is wide ; the rough skin of the branchiostegal rays forms 

 a sort of curtain in front of them. The branchiostegal rays are seven in 

 number. The rake-teeth on the four gill-arches are short, thick, and finely 

 serrated ; the accessory gill-rays are very small, and concealed under a deep 

 fold in the skin. 



The first dorsal fin begins in the second third, and ends in the middle of 

 the length of the fish , opposite to the anal aperture. Its middle jointed rays 

 are the longest, and about a third of the height of the body depth beneath 

 them. The second dorsal immediately succeeds the first dorsal, and extends to 

 near the caudal fin, from which it is sometimes scarcely separated; and in some 

 localities, as in Lemberg, the two dorsal fins have a membranous connection. 

 The base of the dorsal fin is necessarily nearly equal to half the length of 

 the fish. Its jointed rays are forked at the extremity, and become some- 

 what lono-er towards the end of the fin. The anal fin resembles the Fecond 



