ROACH. 351 



The length of the head compared with the whole length of 

 the head, body, and tail, including the rays, is as one to 

 five ; the depth of the body at the commencement of the 

 dorsal fin is to the whole length of the body alone, without 

 the head or caudal fin-rays, as two to five ; the muzzle rather 

 sharp ; the mouth small ; the nostrils double, both pierced 

 in a circular depression, but little in advance of the anterior 

 superior edge of the orbit ; the diameter of the eye equal to 

 one-fourth of the whole length of the head, and occupying 

 the second fourth portion ; the nape and back rising sud- 

 denly ; the dorsal line much more convex than that of the 

 abdomen : scales rather large, marked with concentric and 

 radiating lines ; the number of punctured scales forming the 

 lateral line forty-three ; the oblique line from the base of the 

 dorsal fin down to the scale on the lateral line contains seven 

 scales ; below the lateral line to the origin of the ventral fin, 

 three scales ; the lateral line falls by a curve from the upper 

 part of the operculum below the middle of the body, and 

 from thence nearly straight to the tail. 



The first ray of the dorsal fin arises exactly half-way be- 

 tween the point of the nose and the end of the fleshy portion 

 of the tail ; the first ray short, the second the longest in the 

 fin ; both rays simple, all the others diminishing in length 

 and branched ; the sixth ray as long as the base of the fin : 

 the upper ray of the pectoral fin the longest and simple, all 

 the others branched ; the length of the fin equal to the dis- 

 tance from the front of the eye to the free edge of the oper- 

 culum : the ventral fins arise, on a vertical line, directly 

 under the first ray of the dorsal fin ; the upper ray the long- 

 est and simple, the others branched : the anal fin commences 

 on a line with the ends of the rays of the dorsal fin when 

 folded down, the first ray short, the second ray the longest, 

 both simple, the rest branched ; the tail deeply forked, the 



