SPAKUS. — CICHLID.E. 



]33 



the cheek. Dorsal XI 12 ; spines strong, increasing in length to the 

 fourth, which measures a little more than ^ length of head and exceeds 

 longest soft rays. Anal III 9 ; second spine strongest and a little 

 longer than third. Pectoral as long as head. Caudal feebly emarginate. 

 Scales 49 in the lateral line, 5 between the latter and the anterior dorsal 

 spines. Silvery ; a black opercular spot ; spinous dorsal black-edged, 

 other fins reddish. 



Total length 280 millim. 



Lower Zambesi and Licuara Rivers. — Types in Eerlin Museum. 



Fi<r. 90. 



Sparus vagus. 

 Type, after Peters {I. c). 



1 



2- 



Fam. 8. CICHLID^. 

 Perciform fishes with the suborbitals not produced into a subocular 

 lamina, without teeth on the palate, the lower pharyngeal bones more 

 or less'completely united, but with median suture, gill-membranes free 

 from isthmus, 5 or 6 branchicstegal rays, no pseudobranchiae, and a single 

 nostril on each side. Spinous dorsal well developed, usually longer than 

 the soft- anal with 3 spines or more. Prsecaudal vertebras with trans- 

 verse processes from the third ; ribs most frequently sessile or subsessile. 



