130 PRISTIPOMATID^. 



head and equals interocular width; mouth extending to below nostril 

 or anterior border of eye ; lips very thick ; 4 pits on the chin ; posterior 

 border of prseoperculum strongly denticulated ; operculum with two 

 blunt points ; snout naked, remainder of head covered with scales. 

 18 gill-rakers on lower part of anterior arcli. Dorsal XIV 16 ; spines 

 very strong, increasing in length to the fourth or fifth, which measures 

 i to I length of head, and nearly equals longest soft rays. Anal III 

 6-7 ; second spine very strong, longest, nearly as long as longest dorsal. 

 Pectoral f to J length of head. Caudal rounded. Caudal peduncle 

 scarcely longer than deep. Scales 55-60 i'gi2s- Dark brown to purplish 

 black, lighter under the head and on the belly. 



Total length 400 millim. 



West Coast of Africa, from the Senegal to the Congo. — Type in 

 Congo Museum, Tervueren. 



1-2. Ad. St. Louis, Senegal. M P. Delhez (C). 



:5. Hot. Mouth of Benito R. Madrid Museum (E.). 



3. OTOPERCA, g. n. 



Larimns, part., Giintli. Cat. Fish. ii. p. 2GG (18G0). 



Body oblong, compressed; scales moderate, ctenoid; lateral line 

 complete. Mouth moderately large, protractile ; maxillary exposed 

 when the mouth is closed ; bands of villiform teeth in the jaws ; 

 prajoperculum denticulate ; no opercular spines. 7 branchiostegal rays ; 

 pseudobranchiiE large. Dorsal Avith 1:^ spines, anal with three, both 

 tins with a scaly sheath at the base. Ventrals below base of pectorals, 

 with a scaly basal process. Vertebrse 26 (10 + 1^). 



A single species, marine, but entering rivers. 



1. OTOPERCA AURITA. 



Ijanmus anritus, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Poiss. viii. p. 501 (1831) ; (ninth. Cat. Fish. 



ii. p. 206 (1800). 

 Fristipoma macrophtlialmum, Bleok. Nat. Verli. Gos. Haarlem, xviii. 1803, no. 2. 



p. 52, pi. xii. fig. 1 ; Steind. Sitzb. Ak. Wien, Ix. i. 1869, p. 684, and Notes 



Leyd. Mus. xvi. 1894, p. 9. 



Depth of body 2| to 3 times in total length, length of head o to 

 3| times. Snout with convex upper profile, much shorter than eye, 

 which is 2 J (young) to 3 times in length of head and ecpials or a little 

 exceeds interocular width ; maxillary extending to below anterior third 



