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 

 vpith the head, as is the case in S. berthelotii. The opercle and sub- 

 opercle are scaly and striate, the striae ending at the margin in mi- 

 nute teeth. The preopercle is scaleless, the border being striate, 

 and the strise 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 head ; the 

 space between it and the tip of the snout is equal to a diameter and 

 a half. 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 low in 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 shghtly 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 

 1 60 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. berthelotii it is easily distinguished by the 

 smaller scales, the longer body (height to length as 1 to 4^, 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 1| 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. berthelotii 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. 



