FAMILY PERCIDyE. 37 



GENUS URANOSCOPUS. Linneus, Cuvier. 



Head large, cubical, flattened above. BrancJdal rays six. Velvet teeth on the jaws, vomer 

 and 2>alatines. A spine on the humeral bone. Eyes vertical. Ventrals jugular, or placed 

 in advance of thr. pectorals, ivhielc arc large. Lateral line ascends, and runs near the 

 base of the dorsal fin. 



Obs. In addition to these characters, many species have a long fleshy filament within the 

 mouth in front of the tongue, which they are apparently enabled to thrust forth at their plea- 

 sure, and use as a bait for other fishes. The fishes of this genus, from their large and 

 roughened head, and the size of their suborbitals, were for a long time arranged with Coitus, 

 Scorpmnu, and other genera of the family Triglidae. Cuvier, however, discovered that the 

 suborbitals are not, as in that family, articulated with the ascending branch of the preopercle, 

 but with a bony plate above, which forms a part of the tympanic bone. The genus is suscep- 

 tible of subdivision into two sections, according as they have one or two dorsal fins. 



For a long time, it was supposed that the American shores of the Atlantic did not furnish 

 a single specimen of this genus. Major Lc Conte has, however, detected a beautiful little 

 species on the coast of South-Carolina. 



THE UNARMED URANOSCOPE. 



UrANOSCOPUS 4N0PL0S. 

 PLATE XXn. Fir,. 05. —(STATE COLLECTION.) 

 VUranoscopc (inoplose. U. anajAos. Ctrv. et Val. Hist. Poiss. Vol. 8, p. 493. 



Characteristics. Cheeks smooth and unarmed, no projecting filament from within the mouth. 

 Length two inches. 



Description. Form typical. Head flattened. Body entirely without scales. Lateral line 

 distinct, ascending to the first dorsal, and running close along the base of the dorsals through- 

 out their whole length, when it rapidly descends to the middle of the tail. The suborbital 

 terms a long and slender process, which descends obliquely downwards and backwards ; its 

 posterior portion very narrow ; and as the limit of the jireoperclc is also very narrow, the 

 anterior portion of the cheeks arc naked, a character unlike what is observed among its con- 

 geners. Lower edge of the preopercle smooth. Opercle wide, slightly convex, with radiating 

 strise. A broad loose transverse membrane beneath the lower jaw, covering the base of the 

 branchial rays. The rudiment of a transverse ligament within, but no fleshy filament. Eyes 

 large, vertical, one diameter and a half apart. Nostrils with subtubular margins, 0'2 apart. 

 Minute acute recurved teeth on the jaws in several series. Teeth also on the vomer and pala- 

 tines of the same character. Two small tuberosities on tlie nape, 0'2 beiiind the eyes. 



The first dorsal fin arises 0'6 from the end of the snout, and is composed of four nniiute 

 spines ; tlic I'lrst three connected by a low membrane ; the posterior postratc, and nearly 



