FISH. 45 



As Cuvier and Valenciennes have mentioned individuals of this species, 

 which varied in the number of rays in the soft dorsal from twenty-two to twenty- 

 four, I cannot but consider the two above described as specifically the same, 

 though in the first these rays amount to as many as twenty-five. This, which is 

 the larger specimen, was taken by Mr. Darwin at Bahia Blanca, where it is said 

 to have been common. The other was obtained at Maldonado. 



2. Umbrina ophicephala. Jen, 



U. elongata ; rostro obtusissimo, tumido, hand ultra fauces producto, margine infe- 

 riore quadrilobato, lobis intermediis rotundatis ; fossuld longitudinali inter nares, 

 profundi exarata ; ports quatuor infra symphysin ; dentibus velutinis, serie externa 

 in maxilla superiore aculeiformi; preoperculo obsolete denticulato ; operculo mucro- 

 nibus duobus parvis instructo ; spinis dorsalibus tertia et quartd longissimis, 

 corporis altitudinem cequantibus ; spina, anali gracili, radiis articulatis dimidio 

 breviori, 



D. 12—1/22; A. 1/9; C. 17; P. 20; V. 1/5. 



Long. unc. 6. lin. 5. 



Form. — Very much elongated; the greatest depth just one-sixth of the entire length; the head 

 one-fifth. Dorsal line nearly straight. Profile falling very slightly till it reaches the nostrils, 

 when it suddenly becomes vertical. Snout in consequence short, and very blunt, and not pro- 

 jecting beyond the jaws ; with a deep broad channel down the middle, extending from between 

 the nostrils to near the mouth : on each side of this channel, the snout is very protuberant. 

 The lower margin of the snout is divided into four lobes, the central pair of which are rounded : 

 above each of the exterior lobes is one large pore, and an odd one in the middle. There are 

 also four pores beneath the symphysis, and a short barbule, as in the last species. The eye 

 has a diameter about one-fifth the length of the head, and is distant one diameter from the 

 end of the snout. The nostrils, which are immediately in advance of the eye, consist of two 

 round apertures, one before the other, the posterior one double the size of the anterior. Upper 

 jaw a very little longer than the lower. A band of velutine teeth in each jaw; with an outer 

 row above of moderately strong card, rather curving inwards and backwards, and closer-set 

 than those of the U. arenata, amounting to twenty-eight or thirty in number : there are also 

 some smaller card teeth behind this outer row passing insensibly into the velutine. Preopercle 

 very obsoletely denticulated. Opercle with two flat points not very obvious. 



First dorsal triangular, and moderately high in the point ; third and fourth spines longest, 

 about equalling the depth of the body; first spine very small: all the spines rather slender. 

 Second dorsal about half as long again as the first, but the rays are too much broken to judge 



