239 



No bony crests or spinous points exist on the craninm. The nostrils 

 are on the edge of the head, close before the eye, the hinder one being 

 an open pore, not above a line from the orbit, and the other is situated 

 a quarter of an inch before it in a pulpy membrane, and being closed 

 by a flap is not very perceptible. The space between each pair is of 

 course equal to the breadth of the head in that region. 



Scales cycloid, oval, most of them oblique, or unequal at the base, 

 of moderate size and delicate texture, showing very fine concentric 

 lines of structure, and from five to fifteen faint basal grooves. Scaly 

 integument covers the upper half of the operculum, and also a rec- 

 tangular space bounded anteriorly by the vertical limb of the 

 preoperculum and the eye. On the top of the head the scales end 

 by a crescentic line, whose ends touch the angles at the eye. The 

 facial part of the head is clothed with scaleless integument, and there 

 are many pores and mucous canals extending along the under edge 

 of the prefrontal. A soft tubular ring supplies the place of subor- 

 bital bones, and the small preorbitar scale bone is almost mem- 

 branous, but becomes rough in drying, from the number of mucous 

 canals which run through it. Between the gill opening and the 

 caudal fin, there are 102 scales in a longitudinal row, six rows above 

 the lateral line, and nine below it. The lateral line is formed by a 

 row of small pores, each placed on the tip of a small scale, of whose 

 disk little appears, because of the overlapping of the adjoining scales 

 above and below. A taper-pointed scale terminates the scaly integu- 

 ment on the base of the caudal on each side. 



Fin-rays. — Br. 4 — 4 ; D. 23|23, last two approximated at the 

 base ; A, 2|13, last two approximated at the base; C. 17 ; P. 10 ; 

 V. 0. Dorsal commencing over the bones of the pectorals and just 

 behind the tips of the gill-covers. It runs considerably past the 

 anus, and some way further than the anal, its outline being even, 

 though rising slightly in its course. Its rays are simple and un- 

 branched like those of the other fins (except the caudal), and half 

 of them are without visible joints, elastic at the base and tapering 

 with flexible points. The anal commencing near the anus does not 

 reach so far down the tail as the dorsal. It is composed of similar 

 rays, and in the anterior two the joints are obsolete. The caudal, 

 semilanceolate at the base, tapers to a slender, very acute point. Its 

 rays are sparingly divided at the tips. Pectorals supported by ten 

 simple rays with flattened but not dilated tips. No ventrals. 



The intestines of the smaller specimen were examined, but not 

 satisfactorily, as they had received injury, particularly the air-bladder, 

 from a glass rod that had been thrust down the throat of the fish. 

 The alimentary canal is quite straight and simple, with a slight 

 widening below the oesophagus, but no defined stomach. No py- 

 loric caeca were detected. The inside of the gut was thickly lined 

 by a fine, flocculent mucus-like matter, and on scraping it away a 

 multitude of longitudinal striae were seen extending along the inner 

 membrane. The liver, partly perished, was on the right side, and 

 did not descend far. Air-bladder torn, so that its size and form 



