306 AMERICAN GAME. 
limb rising vertically forms a right-angle with the lower 
one; and its edge is armed with small spinous teeth, 
those on the lower limb being directed forward. The 
bony operculum terminates in a narrow sub-spinous 
point, beneath which there are three denticulations, with 
grooves running backward from them. An acute- 
pointed membranous flap prolonged from the margin of 
the suboperculum conceals these parts iu the recent fish. 
The edge of the interoperculum and posterior part of the 
suboperculum are minutely denticulated. The edges of 
the humeral bones are slightly grooved and denticulated, 
the denticulations being more obvious in some individu- 
als than in others. 
Scales.—There are sixty scales on the lateral line, and 
twenty-two in a vertical row between the first dorsal and 
centre of the belly. The scales are rather small, their 
bases truncated and furrowed to near the middle (striées 
en éventail) by six grooves corresponding to eight minute 
lobes of the margin. A narrow border of the outer 
rounded edge is very minutely streaked, producing teeth 
on the margin, visible under a lens. The length and 
breadth of a scale, taken from the side, are about equal, 
being two and a half lines. A linear inch measured on 
the sides or belly, longitudinally, contains twelve scales, 
the scales on the belly having, however, less vertical 
breadth. On the back an inch includes seventeen or 
eighteen. The asperity of the scales is perceptible to 
the finger, when it is drawn over them from the tail 
19* . 
