130 PRISTIPOMAT7D.E. 



head and equals inttiroculau width ; mouth extending to below nostril 

 or anterior border of eye ; lips very thick ; 4 pits on the chin ; posterior 

 border of prseoperculum strongly denticulated ; operculum with two 

 blunt points ; snout naked, remainder of head covered with scales. 

 18 gill-rakers on lower part of anterior arch. Dorsal XIV 16 ; spines 

 very strong, increasing in length to the fourth or fifth, which measures 

 J to § length of head, and nearly equals longest soft rays. Anal III 

 6-7 ; second spine very strong, longest, nearly as long as longest dorsal. 

 Pectoral § to f- length of head. Caudal rounded. Caudal peduncle 

 scarcely longer than deep. Scales 55-60 1^53. Dark brown to purplish 

 black, lighter under the head and on the belly. 



Total length 400 millim. 



West Coast of Africa, from the Senegal to the Congo. — Type in 

 Congo Museum, Tervueren. 



1-2. Ad. St. Louis, Senegal. M P. Delhez (('.). 



3. Hgr. Mouth of Benito 11. Madrid Museum (E.). 



3. OT0PERCA, g. n. 

 Larimus, part., Giinth. Cat. Fish. ii. p. 206 (1860). 



Body oblong, compressed; scales moderate, ctenoid; lateral line 

 complete. Mouth moderately large, protractile ; maxillary exposed 

 when the mouth is closed ; bands of villiform teeth in the jaws ; 

 praeoperculum denticulate ; no opercular spines. 7 branchiostegal rays ; 

 pseudobranchia? large. Dorsal with 12 spines, anal with three, both 

 fins with a scaly sheath at the base. Ventrals below base of pectorals, 

 with a scaly basal process. Vertebrae 26 (10 + 16). 



A single species, marine, but entering rivers. 



1. OTOPERCA ATJRITA. 



Larimus auritus, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Poiss. viii. p. 501 (1831) ; Giinth. Cat. Fish. 



ii. p. 266 (1860). 

 Pristipoma macrophthalnmm, Bleek. Nat. Verb. Ges. Haarlem, xviii. 1863, no. 2, 



p. 52, pi. xii. fig. 1 ; Steind. Sitzb. Ak. Wien, lx. i. 1869, p. &§i, and Notes 



Lcyd. Mus. xvi. 1804, p. 9. 



Depth of body 2§ to 3 times in total length, length of head 3 to 

 3-g- times. Snout with convex upper profile, much shorter than eye, 

 which is 2h (young) to 3 times in length of head and equals or a little 

 exceeds interocular width ; maxillary extending to below anterior third 



