958 Storer’s Observations on the Fishes of Nova Scotia 
A membranous carina existing on the sides of tail. There 
are four osseous plates posterior to the pectoral fins. The 
anterior one, which is situated a little in advance of the 
second spine, is the largest. In front of these and above the 
pectorals we observe the rudiments of three other plates, 
oceupying the space between the first spine and the head. 
The surface of these plates is minutely granular, as well as 
the odd plates of the back and the bones of the skull itself. 
This granulation will undoubtedly be found different in dif- 
po species. 
“ The head is one fourth of the entire length ; it is flattened 
above. The lower jaw the longer. Teeth very acute and 
more prominent on the lower than the upper jaw. ‘The eyes, 
which are proportionately large, are circular and near the 
upper region of the head; diameter of their orbit is to the 
length of head as 1 to 3}; distance from extremity of snout 
exactly equal to their diameter. "The nostrils are placed very 
high also, and a little nearer to the anterior margin of the eye 
than to the end of the snout; they open into a little depres- 
sion above the first sub-orbital plate, the largest of the three, 
which is of a quadrangular form and covers all the space 
between the eye and the upper jaw ; the granular strize of its 
surface are also more marked. The second sub-orbital is 
much smaller, narrower, and in the shape of an elongated 
quadrangle. Finally, the third, irregularly rounded, sends a 
dilatation upon the horizontal branch of the preoperculum, 
leaving a naked space between the vertical branch of that 
bone and the posterior edge of the orbit. 5 
p The preoperculum has a slightly obtuse angular sbape ; its 
margins are straight ; the horizontal branch reaches the articu- 
lation of the lower jaw. The operculum is sub-triangular, 
with the external margin rounded. The inter-operculum, 
crescent-shaped, is a very small plate at the inferior angle of 
the operculum. The sub-operculum is elongated, very narrow, 
and slightly curved. ‘The smooth space in front of the pec- 
torals is large and sub-circular. The cubital bones strong 
