176 MR. J. Y. JOHNSON ON NEW GENERA AND SPECIES [June 10, 
The head is scaleless above, gelatinous, punctate, and arched. 
The snout is abbreviate and abrupt, but does not form a quadrant 
with the head, as is the case in S. berthelotii. ‘The opercle and sub- 
opercle are scaly and striate, the strize ending at the margin in mi- 
nute teeth. The preopercle is scaleless, the border being striate, 
and the striz projecting as blunt teeth*. The eye is round, its 
centre is placed about the middle of the height, and it is surrounded 
by radiating grooves; it is contained five times in the lead; the 
space between it and the tip of the snout is equal to a diameter and 
ahalf. The mouth is of moderate size, and the jaws are equal ; 
each is set with a single series of small sharp teeth. There are no 
teeth on the palatines or the vomer. The tongue is broad, smooth, 
and white. ’ 
The long scaly dorsal fin commences behind the root of the pec- 
toral fin ; it is lowin front, highest at the middle, and has an angular 
termination. The spinous rays are not to be distinguished from the 
others. The pectoral fins are pointed, and have broad roots ; they 
are inserted below the middle of the height, and their fourth and 
fifth rays are the longest; they scarcely reach more than halfway 
to the vent. The pointed ventral fins are inserted near together, 
just under the posterior angle of the root of the pectoral fins. The 
second soft ray is the longest ; this fin does not reach halfway to 
the vent. The scaly anal fin is high in front and pointed behind ; 
it terminates opposite, or perhaps a little behind, the termination of 
the dorsal; its base is about half as long as that of the dorsal fin. 
The caudal fin is deeply emarginate ; its membrane has scales upon 
it between the rays. 
The lateral line rises slightly on the shoulder, then descends 
gently to the middle of the height, and from a little behind the 
middle of the total length it is horizontal. The scales are very small, 
cycloid, and concentrically striate ; those of the lateral line are about 
160 in number. 
The single individual from which these characters have been drawn 
up, though bearing considerable resemblance to S. berthelotii (which 
occasionally occurs at Madeira), is sufficiently distinct from that and 
other known members of the genus to warrant the definition of a 
new species. From S. derthelotii it is easily distinguished by the 
smaller scales, the longer body (height to length as 1 to 43, instead 
of 1 to 3), the shorter head (head to length as 1 to 5, instead of 1 to 4), 
the longer snout (equal to 13 diam. of the eye, whereas in S. berthe- 
lotii it is less than one diameter of the eye), by the shorter pectoral 
and ventral fins only reaching about halfway to the vent (whereas in 
S. berthelotii they extend backwards as far as the vent), and by the 
commencement of the dorsal fin being placed behind the root of the 
pectorals, whereas in S. dertheloti that fin commences considerably 
in front of that point. A thick purple fluid exuded from the vent of 
the dead fish ; and the same thing has occurred in the case of all the 
* In describing S. berthelotii (Ichth. Canarienne, p. 45), M. Valenciennes says 
that the opercle, subopercle, and interopercle are not scaly, whereas all the oper- 
cular pieces are most certainly scaly. 
