BLOCH S TOPKNOT. 



249 



one-third of the same : profile notched immediately before 

 the eyes : mouth of moderate size, very protractile ; jaws 

 nearly equal ; the lower one a very little the longest, and 

 ascending obliquely at an angle of rather more than forty- 

 five degrees : teeth so fine as to be scarcely visible : eyes 

 large, remarkably full and prominent ; their diameter about 

 one-fourth the length of the head ; placed on the left side ; 

 approximating ; the lower one rather more advanced than 

 the upper ; between them a projecting ridge : basal and 

 posterior margins of the preopercle meeting at a very obtuse 

 angle, the former rising obliquely to meet the latter ; lateral 

 line commencing at the upper part of the opercle, at first 

 very much arched, but afterwards straight : both sides of the 

 body, but more especially the upper, extremely rough : 

 scales minute ; those on the upper side having their free 

 margins set with from four to six denticles ; those beneath 

 having the denticles finer and more numerous : dorsal fin 

 commencing immediately in advance of the upper eye, and 

 extending very nearly to the caudal, at the same time pass- 

 ing underneath the tail, where the rays become very delicate ; 

 greatest elevation of the fin near its retral extremity ; first 

 ray very much produced, nearly three times the length of 

 those which follow ; most of the rays divided at their tips ; 

 some of the last in the fin branched from the bottom : anal 

 fin commencing in a line with the posterior angle of the pre- 

 opercle, answering to the dorsal, and terminating in the same 

 manner beneath the tail ; greatest elevation corresponding : 

 caudal oblong, the extremity rounded : pectorals inserted 

 behind the posterior lobe of the opercle, a little below the 

 middle ; the first ray very short, the next three or four 

 longest, the succeeding ones nearly as long ; pectoral on the 

 eye side rather larger than that on the side opposite : ventral 

 fins immediately before the anal, and appearing like a con- 



VOL. II. s 



