151 



the other fins were variegated with purple spots, and edged with 

 crimson ; the eye was blue, with an inner and an external crimson 

 circle. 



On the dried specimens, appear sorts of longitudinal ridges, 

 such as those that Dr. Richardson has represented in his plate 

 of L. Laticlavias. 



LABBJCHTHYS YESTITA. 



The height of the body is contained three and two-third times 

 in the total length ; the head is three and three-fourth times in 

 the same ; the orbit is seven times in the latter. The anterior 

 part of the head is rather more rounded than in the two first 

 sorts. There is only one long canine tooth on each side, but the 

 dentition seems to vary considerably with age, as in a specimen 

 12 inches long, there is only one tooth at the corner of the 

 mouth, bat there are two, and in some places three, rows of teeth 

 on the upper jaw ; on a specimen 17 inches long, there are two 

 teeth at the corner of the mouth, and one line in all the anterior 

 portion of the lower jaw. It is only on the sides that a line of 

 small extra teeth are visible. On the cheeks, there are three or 

 four irregular lines of rounded scales. The lateral line is of the 

 same form as that of the preceding species ; it runs over twenty- 

 six scales, and is formed of twenty-three long tubes, expanding 

 posteriorly in very numerous, broad, and intricate arbuscles ; the 

 transverse line is formed of fourteen scales. The dorsal is com- 

 posed of nine spines and eleven rays ; it is nearly equal in all its 

 length, the soft part being very little higher than the other. The 

 dorsal scales do not extend over its base ; caudal rounded, of 

 thirteen long rays, with another almost as long, and several short 

 ones on each side. Anal with three spines and ten rays ; the 

 first spine is about one-third shorter than the second, and this 

 bears about the same proportion to the third ; the ventrals have 

 one long and slender spine and five rays, the two first rather pro- 

 longed ; pectorals of thirteen rays. 



The colour is of a reddish lilac, with two broad, transversal 

 bands of a dark brown on the body — one situated just behind the 

 extremity of the pectoral, and the other towards the middle of 

 the soft dorsal. The middle of the head, from the jaws to the 

 operculum, presents a beautiful blue tinge, which extends equally 



