FISH. 53 



denticulate, basali Icevi ; operculo mucrone unico ; rostra, ossibus suborbitahbus, 

 maxillis, limbo preoperculi, et inter operculo, nudis ; buccis et cranio squamatis 

 squamis in vertice spat nun angulation inter oculos occupantibus ; pmms dorsal 

 analiqueprcBlongis;spinisanalibusparvis,gracilibus,primdminutissirna; ventrali- 



bus accurate thoracicis ; caudali emarginatd. 



B. 5?; D. 8/26; A. 2/26; C. 15, &c. ; P. I8vell9; V. 1/5. 

 Long. unc. 20. lin. 6. 



Form -Elongated ; the greatest depth equalling the length of the head, and each contained 

 rather more than four times and a half in the entire length. Snout short and rather obtuse, 

 the profile bending downwards in a curve before the eyes. Mouth nearly horizontal, at the 

 bottom of the snout ; when closed, the maxillary, which is not widened at its posterior extremity, 

 and which is very similar in form to that of the last species, reaches nearly, but not quite, to a 

 vertical from the anterior part of the orbit. Lower margin of the suborbital entire. Teeth 

 forming a velutine band in each jaw, widest in front, with a row of stronger ones externally : 

 none on the tongue, vomer, or palatines. Eyes large, and high in the cheeks ; their diameter 

 one-fifth the length of the head. Preopercle with the angle at bottom rounded ; the ascending 

 margin straight, and nearly but not quite vertical, forming with the basal rather more than a 

 right angle ; the former finely denticulated, but not the latter. Opercle terminating in one flat 

 point, not projecting beyond the membrane. The branchiostegous rays appear to be but five 

 in number, but, the skin being dry, there may possibly be a sixth overlooked. Cranium, 

 cheeks, and opercle scaly ; but not the snout or jaws, or limb of the preopercle, or interopercle : 

 the scales on the crown are separated from the naked skin of the snout by a well-defined line, 

 which forms an advancing angle between the eyes. 



Lateral line straight, and continued to the base of the caudal ; its course parallel to the 

 back at between one-fourth and one-third of the depth. Scales on the body rather small, 

 oblong, longer than broad, with their free extremities dotted and finely ciliated ; the concealed 

 portion striated finely at the sides, and more deeply at the base ; but all the central portion, 

 including an oblong area of the same form as the entire scale, without striae, being only very 

 minutely roughened or punctured. 



One long dorsal, low, and of nearly uniform height throughout, commencing about in a 

 line with the insertion of the pectorals, and reaching very nearly to the caudal : eight spines, 

 rather slender, and very gradually increasing in length, the last being just twice the length of 

 the first and equalling the distance from the base of the fin to the lateral line : the soft rays 

 which follow are nearly even with the last of the spinous till the twenty-fourth, which is 

 slightly prolonged in a point, and which is followed by two others shorter than the rest ; the 

 ends of the rays are rather worn, but they appear to have been all branched. Anal also long, 

 commencing at about the middle of the entire length, or in a line with the sixth soft ray of the 

 dorsal, and terminating opposite to that fin, to the last half of which, or rather more than 

 half, it exactly answers ; only two spines, which are so slender and minute, especially the first, 



