THE CHARACINES. 51 



mandibular series there are two small teeth with sharp 

 cusps that curve backward toward the throat. A lip cov- 

 ers the lower teeth, but the upper are quite exposed. 

 There are no teeth on the roof of the mouth. The pha- 

 ryngeal teeth are very small and form small granular pave- 

 ments. On one side there are four branchial rays ; on the 

 other side there are five. The gill-rakers are short and 

 slender, setiform. Of the three bones behind the orbit 

 the lower is the largest, about as huge as the eye, and the 

 middle one is the smallest. 



The pectoral finis are but moderate in size, as long as the 

 head ; they reach a little more than half way to the ven- 

 trals, and they have fourteen rays. The dorsal fin is be- 

 hind the middle of the body, behind the base of the ven- 

 trals, and has eleven rays, the second and third of which 

 are prolonged into a point. The adipose fin is near the 

 t/audal, over the posterior extremity of the base of the anal. 

 Anal elongate with twenty-six rays, of which the third to 

 the fifth are elongate. Ventrals short, reaching the vent, 

 in front of the dorsal, with eight rays. Caudal deeply 

 notched, more than half of its length, with lobes nearly 

 equal, the upper having thirteen rays and the lower but 

 eleven. 



Scales very large and thin, with membranaceous edges. 

 The exposed portion of each scale is broad and short; it is 

 silvered in its posterior half. In the lateral line there are 

 forty-seven scales, in a series from it to the dorsal there 

 are eight, and between it and the ventral there are four 

 on one side of the body, or five on the other. 



That portion of the air bladder lying immediately behind 

 the skull is firmer and more rigid in its walls ; its length 

 is about one and three-fourths inches. The connection be- 

 tween the two parts is a narrow rather solid mass of tissue 

 of about half an inch in length. The hinder section of the 



