MELAMPIIAKS NIGROFULVUS. 65 



row behind tlio head, depth two sevenths and width one fifth of tlie length 

 to the base of the caudal; body cavity more than one half of the total 

 length. Head large, rather more than two fifths of tlie distance from the 

 snout to the base of the caudal, height more than two thirds and width less 

 than one half of the length, blunt, pointed at the snout, very convex on the 

 top ; skull with prominent ridges and processes enclosing the extensive 

 chambers and canals of the lateral system; chin with a prominent median 

 keel and two lateral keels on the mandibles, the median keel being formed 

 by appression of the thin lower edges of the two bones. Snout massive, as 

 long as the orbit, pointed. Mouth large, oblique, maxillary reaching below 

 two thirds of the eye, lower jaws longer, with a sharp angle at the symphy- 

 sis. Teeth small, subequal, in one or two series on the jaws, absent from 

 vomer and palatines. Nostrils small, nearer to the eye than to the end of 

 the snout. Eye medium, five eighths of the length of the snout, less than 

 half of the interorbital space, about one sixth as long as the head. Ridges 

 of skull more or less serrated ; a prominent expansion at each side of the 

 crown bending outward and bearing a spine at the scapular end; a promi- 

 nent ridge above and forward of each orbit, another above each maxillary ; a 

 prominent spine on the middle of the internarial area, three small spines close 

 together at the angle on the anterior ridge of the preopercle, and five short 

 spines on the lower section and three or four on the upper section of the 

 posterior ridge of the same bone. Operculum thin, with a longitudinal 

 ridge ending in a short spine. Each scapular with a ridge above and a 

 short outward directed spine at the side of the nape. Gill lamella? very 

 short; gill rakers eight plus twenty, longest as long as the eye, compressed, 

 sharp 25oi"ted, ensiform ; gill covers membranous toward the edges. 

 Pseudob ranch ijB small. Scales large, cycloid, thin, deciduous, concentri- 

 cally striate with fine striae. Lateral system greatly developed on the 

 head, the disks reseml^ling those of Lamprogrammus and others, see Plate 

 LXXXL, obsolescent on the body. 



Dorsal origin very little backward of midwa}^ from the snout to the base 

 of the caudal, last ray above the seventh ray of the anal; anal origin below 

 the eleventh ray of the dorsal. Caudal peduncle moderate, narrow, two 

 and one half times as long as deep. Pectorals narrow, jDointed, second ray 

 reaching to hind end of base of anal (figured from an imperfect specimen 

 on Plate D, fig. 2). Ventrals elongate, reaching the vent. 



The colors of a fresh specimen are represented on Plate D, fig. 2 ; on 



5 



