374 Mr. Bennett's Observations on Fishes. 



1. Unicoknis. Ant. scaher : supernS palUdS fuscus^ maculis 

 irregularibus strigisque anastomosantibus nigro-fuscis ; inferne 

 albusj fusco reticulatus : capite olbo, rufo marmorato : radio 

 capitali primo tenuissimo, secundo brevi, cylindrico. 



D. 12. P. 11. V. 5. A. 7. C. 9. 



Tab. ix. f. 1. 



The body is compressed, somewhat carinate above, and inflated 

 beneath. Its surface is scabrous. The prevailing colour of the 

 upper parts is pale fuscous, extensively and irregularly mottled 

 with blotches and lines of a dark, fuscous hue, inclining to black, 

 intermingled with a few white spots. The under side is white, 

 irregularly reticulated with fuscous lines, which occasionally 

 form blotches at their points of union. The fins are coloured and 

 marked in a similar manner with the parts of the body to which 

 they adjoin ; the caudal one being white at the base and fuscous 

 at the apex^ with occasionally a white sub-apical spot. The head 

 is white, variegated, especially upon its sides, with large rufous or 

 flesh-coloured patches, which become sordid on its hinder parts, 

 and on the beginning of the back. The under jaw corresponds in 

 colour with the head : the throat is white, with pale fuscous spots 

 gradually becoming darker as they approach the abdomen ; its 

 sides are marked with fuscous, nearly vertical, lines, which rarely 

 auastomose with each other. 



The mouth is protected by thin lips, which are destitute of 

 cirrhi. On the nose is a long setaceous filament, which is termi- 

 nated abruptly ; and immediately behind this is a short, scabrous, 

 horn, about one-half the length of the filament, which is arti- 

 culated at its base to the cranium^ and is capable of elevation or 

 depression. The vertex is slightly prominent, and probably be- 

 comes gibbous at certain periods: to the touch it appears as 

 though there existed here beneath the skin a bony process, re- 

 sembling the nasal horn, but entirely imbedded within the integu- 

 ments. 



The dorsal fin projects but slightly, appearing rather like a 

 continuation of the back, and sloping suddenly down at its caudal 

 extremity. The other fins are rounded. The extremities of the 



