52 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



delicate ; all the soft rays branched. Vent in a vertical line with the ninth soft ray of the 

 dorsal. Anal commencing immediately behind it, and answering to that portion of the dorsal 

 to which it is opposite, terminating at the same distance from the caudal ; only two slender 

 spines, the first very short ; the first soft ray simple, the rest branched. Space between these 

 two fins and the caudal barely one-eighth of the entire length. Caudal nearly even. Pectorals 

 moderately long and narrow, equalling nearly the length of the head ; rays branched ; fourth, 

 fifth, and sixth longest. Ventrals a little in advance of the pectorals, nearly equalling them in 

 length • of a pointed form, with the third and fourth soft rays longest. In the axilla of the 

 pectorals a vertical scaly membranaceous lamina. 



B. 6 ; D. 4/28 ; A. 2/22 ; C. 17 ; P. 20 ; V. 1/5. 



Length 11 inc. 5 lines. 



Colour. — {In spirits.) Dusky olive on the back and upper part of the sides, yellowish (probably 

 silvery in the recent state) beneath, with faint indications of five or six dark transverse bands, 

 similar to those in the common perch. Inside of the ventrals blue. 



Second specimen. — Smaller than the above, measuring six inches and a half in length, but differing 

 from it in no respect, as regards form, excepting in having the profile not so oblique, and the 

 snout in consequence not so obtuse ; the jaws also are exactly equal. Fin-ray formula the 

 same. 



Colour. — " Beneath brilliant white ; head and back clouded with purplish and carmine red ; 

 longitudinal and transverse irregular bands of the same." — D. The bands in this specimen 

 amount to eight in number, and are much more conspicuous than in the larger one above 

 described. 



Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile. 



The smaller of the two specimens above described was taken by Mr. Darwin 

 at Valparaiso. The number attached to the larger one has been lost, but it was 

 probably taken at the same place, where it had been previously discovered both 

 by M. D'Orbigny and M. Gay. The specimen described by Valenciennes has 

 one soft ray more in the dorsal, and one less in the anal, than either of the above ; 

 but in all other respects they tally exactly. As observed in the " Histoire des 

 Poissons," this species has many points of resemblance to Percis and Pinguipes. 



2. Latilus princeps. Jen. 



Plate XL 



L. elongatns ; corporis altitudine capitis longitudinem cequanti ; dentibus velutinis, 

 serie externa fortiori, acideiformi ; preoperculo margine adscendenti recto, leviter 



