FISH. 



55 



band of velutine teeth in each jaw, with the outer row in fine card ; these last longest and 

 strongest in front. Eyes large ; their diameter nearly one-third the length of the head, bub- 

 orbitals forming a narrow curved band beneath the eyes, and covered by a row of scales. 

 Nostrils with only a single, small, round aperture. Preopercle with the ascending margin 

 vertical, not quite rectilineal, inclining slightly inwards towards the angle, which is rounded. 

 Opercle, taken together with the subopercle, very regularly curved, the margin describing 

 nearly a semicircle, with one flat point to terminate the osseous portion ; its height double its 

 length. 



The whole of this fish, including every part of the head, except the lips and maxillary, is 

 covered with scales, which extend on to the vertical fins as in Glyphisodon : those on the fins 

 and upper part of the head and snout are very small, but those on the gill-covers and body very 

 large : about twenty-six or twenty-seven in a longitudinal line from the gill to the base of the 

 caudal, and fourteen or fifteen in a vertical line : one taken from about the middle of the side 

 is oblong, the breadth exceeding the length, with the anterior margin rounded, and the free 

 portion finely dotted and very minutely ciliated, the concealed portion cut square, with a fan of 

 eight or ten strise not meeting at the centre, and terminating at the basal margin in as many 

 crenations. The lateral line commences at one-fourth of the depth, but, from the fall of the 

 dorsal line posteriorly, the distance between these two lines diminishes as the former advances : 

 the lateral line terminates beneath the soft portion of the dorsal fin altogether. 



Fins almost exactly similar to those of the Glyphisodon saxatilis and Heliases insolatus, as 

 described and figured in the " Histoire des Poissons." The fourth and fifth spines in the 

 dorsal longest, equalling one-fourth of the depth; of the soft rays the third, fourth, and fifth are 

 longest. First anal spine only one-third the length of the second, which is itself rather shorter 

 than the soft rays ; and these last appear longer than in the H. insolatus. Caudal more forked 

 than crescent-shaped, the depth of the fork equalling nearly half the length of the fin, which is 

 itself one-fourth the entire length of the fish. Axillary scales of the pectorals and ventrals as 

 in H. insolatus. 



B. 6; D. 13/12 ; A. 2/12; C. 15, & 4 short; P. 21 ; V. 1/5. 



Length 8 inches. 



Colour.—" Above lead-colour, beneath paler." — D. In spirits, it appears of a deep brownish olive 

 on the back and upper part of the sides, passing into dull golden yellow on the lower part of 

 the sides and abdomen, where, however, the scales are still faintly edged with the former 

 colour. Fins dark. 



Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile. 



This species, as M. Valenciennes observes, is so extremely similar to the 

 H. insolatus, that at first sight, it would hardly be distinguished from it. The 

 only differences appear to consist in the form of the caudal, which is forked, not 

 crescent-shaped as in the species just mentioned, and in the greater length of 



