152 MR. J. D. OGiLBY ON FISHES [Mar. 19, 



dorsal profile, from the tip of the snout to the origin of the caudal 

 fin, forms a graceful and gradual curve, which is more abrupt on the 

 head than on the body ; tlie ventral profile is flat from the isthmus 

 to the origin of the anal fin, behind which there is a gentle ascent. 

 The lower jaw projects slightly beyond the upper when the mouth is 

 closed. The cleft of the mouth is very oblique ; the maxilla reaches 

 to beneath the posterior edge of the pupil of the eye ; it is exceed- 

 ingly broad, being no less than three fifths of the diameter of the eye 

 at its hinder margin, while the breadth of the preorbital bears a 

 similar proportion to it. The nostril is provided with two openings, 

 the posterior of which is situated on the anterior margin of the eye, 

 on a line with the upper edge of the pupil, and is of moderate size 

 and round, while the anterior, which is placed midway between the 

 eye and the tip of the snout on a slightly lower level, is oval and very 

 minute. The opercle is armed with three spines, of which the 

 middle is much the longest, while the upper is so small as to be 

 difficult of detection ; the vertical limb of the preopercle is finely 

 serrated, and three or four of the teeth on the rounded angle are 

 much larger and stronger than the others ; the horizontal limb is 

 entire. Teeth — there are one or two small canines on the front of 

 each ramus of either jaw, between Avhich are patches of small teeth, 

 separated by a naked space at the sym.physis ; behind the canines 

 are small cardiform teeth in a double row anteriorly, but posteriorly 

 in a single row, where, in the lower jaw, they are distinctly longer : 

 the vomerine teeth form a triangular patch, the palatine a narrow 

 band ; the tongue is toothless. Fins — the dorsal fin commences 

 above the base of the middle opercular spine ; the spinous portion is 

 much lower than the soft, and its base is about one tenth shorter ; 

 the spines are slender, and the variation in length is very slight, the 

 last being the longest, and two and three fourths in the length of the 

 head ; the intervening membrane is deeply notched, and is without 

 a filiform appendage ; the soft portion increases gradually in length 

 to the thirteenth ray, beyond which it descends rather abruptly ; the 

 longest ray is one half longer than the last spine. The third anal 

 spine is the longest, but little shorter than the last dorsal, while its 

 ravs are much longer than those of that fin '. The ventral spine is 

 one third longer than that of the anal, and the second ray, which is 

 the longest, reaches only to the vent, and is four fifths of the length 

 of the head. The pectoral fin is elongate and pointed, reaching to 

 opposite the origin of the anal, 'and equal in length to the head. 

 The caudal fin is deeply forked, with equally developed lobes, none 

 of the rays of which are elongate ; its length is just one fourth of 

 the total. Scales — of moderate size, finely ctenoid, and firmly 

 adherent ; the basal half at least of all the fins is scaly, and the 

 entire head is covered with scales, smaller, especially on the snout, 

 than those of the body. The lateral line has a long, gentle curve 

 parallel to the line of the back. Colours — head and anterior half of 

 the body rose-coloured, with a narrow, pale blue line running from 



1 In our specimen the fourth and fifth (Bleeker's longest, vide figure in Atl. 

 Ichth. t. vii. pi. xi. fig. 1) rays are broken off close to the base. 



