52- DR. A. GifNTHER ON THE BRITISH CHARRS. [Feb. II, 



Description of a male specimen, length 10^ inches. — Head and body 

 compressed, slightly elevated, its greatest depth being below the 

 origin of the dorsal fin, where it is contained four times in the total 

 length (to the end of the middle caudal rays). The least depth of 

 the tail is considerably less than the length of the base of the dorsal 

 fin. The height of the head above the raandibulary joint is more 

 than the distance between the posterior margin of the orbit and the 

 end of the operculum. The upper profile of the head is elevated 

 above the margin of the orbit, the diameter of which is one-fifth of 

 the length of the head, shorter than the snout, and a little more than 

 one-half of the width of the interorbital space. The latter is convex, 

 with a prominent ridge along the middle, and with a pair of series 

 of pores. Snout slightly compressed, subcorneal, with the jaws eqvial 

 anteriorly. The nostrils are situated midway between the end of the 

 snout and the anterior margin of the eyeball ; the posterior is the 

 wider and round, the anterior being a very narrow vertical slit ; both 

 are separated by a narrow cutaneous bridge. The maxillary extends 

 to the vertical from the posterior margin of the eye, and is armed 

 with sixteen very small teeth, "the posterior ones being quite rudi- 

 mentary. All the other teeth small — four in the intermaxillary, twelve 

 in each mandible, two to four on the vomer, fifteen on each palatine, 

 and four pairs on the tongue. The suhoperculum forms the hind- 

 most part of the gill-cover, and does not cover the exposed portion 

 of the humerus above the root of the pectoral ; it is narrow, its ver- 

 tical width being one- third of that of the operculum. Only the two or 

 three outer branchiostegals are exposed in a lateral view of the fish, 

 the others being situated at the lower side of the head. The lower 

 branch of the outer branchial arch is provided with nine lanceolate 

 straight gill-rakers ; the longest is two lines long in the specimen 

 described. 



D. 13(14). A. 12. P. 13-14. V. 9. 



The origin of the dorsal fin is nearer to the end of the snout than 

 to the root of the caudal ; the length of its base is considerably more 

 than that of the last ray, and contained once and two-fifths in that 

 of the fourth ray. The fourth and fifth rays form an acute point, 

 and the upper margin of the fin is nearly straight. The first ray is 

 nearly half as long as the second, the second half as long as the 

 third, the third not much shorter than the fourth ; the fourth and 

 fifth are longest, the former simple and the latter branched ; the last 

 is split to the base, and nearly half as long as the fifth. The dis- 

 tance of the adipous fin from the dorsal is less than twice the length 

 of the base of the latter. 



The origin of the anal fin is in the middle between the root of the 

 caudal and that of the outer ventral ray ; the length of its base is 

 less than that of the dorsal, and two-thirds of the length of the fifth 

 ray. The fourth, fifth, and sixth rays are the longest, and form an 

 acute point ; the lower margin of the fin is slightly emarginate. The 

 first ray is short, half as long as the second ; the second half as long- 

 as the third ; the third two-thirds as long as the fourth, which a 



