150 Miscellaneous. 
the third and fourth form the lower part of the orbit; the fourth 
and fifth touch the lower postorbital; the sixth and seventh are 
equal in size. ‘Two posterior oculars; two temporals, one behind 
the other. The median lower labial is triangular ; six lower labials, 
the first pair forming a suture behind the median shield; two pairs 
of chin-shields, the anterior pair being twice the size of the posterior ; 
there are four pairs of scales between the chin-shields and the first 
ventral. The scales are smooth, rhombic, in fifteen series. Ventral 
shields 172; anal bifid. The posterior quarter of the tail is muti- 
lated. The ground-colour of the upper parts is shining black ; the 
anterior part of the snout, a spot on the fifth upper labial, the rings 
of the body, and all the lower parts, are brownish-yellow. The rings, 
in this specimen, are one-fourth or one-fifth of the width of the 
black interspaces, and occupy two or three transverse series of scales ; 
they are sometimes irregular and interrupted ; all those on the tail 
are interrupted, the halves of one side alternating with those of the 
other; the first ring forms a collar, crossed by a narrow black 
streak. 
inches. 
Length af tire: head yi... i502) sdk be 03 
of the tranks.6i 0 ou. 2k oe 
—- of the tail (restored)............ 4 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
On Alepidosaurus, a Marine Siluroid Fish. 
By Dr. ALBert GUNTHER. 
In his Family Scomberoidei Cuvier has brought together many 
dissimilar fishes, whilst he has omitted others which approach very 
closely to the typical forms. Other species discovered by subsequent 
zoologists, and exhibiting some agreement with a Scomberoid fish, 
went to increase the unnatural group. Amongst the latter is 
Alepidosaurus ferox, described by Lowe (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1833, 
p- 104; Trans. Zool. Soc. i. p. 124, pl. 19, and p. 395, pl. 59; 
vol. ii. p. 181). This profound naturalist, to whom we are in- 
debted for our best information upon the fauna of Madeira, de- 
ceived himself in this case as to the structure of the rays of the 
dorsal fins. These are not the inarticulate bones of the Acan- 
thopterygii, but they are soft, and their division into joints ap- — 
pears indistinct only because the individual joints are separated 
from each other by great spaces, and each ray, notwithstanding its 
length, only consists of a few joints. It is true the absence of the 
spiny fins would be of itself no proof of the position of our fish 
amongst the Malacopterygii: this is wanting in several true Acan- 
thopterygii; but then other characters aid us in recognizing their 
natural position, and the place where the spiny fin should stand is 
not occupied by the soft dorsal, as is the case in Alepidosaurus ; in 
them the spiny fin is merely reduced to a rudimentary condition 
(Brama). If to this we add the presence of the adipose fin in Ale- 
