FISH. 87 



It may be mentioned that in this species, as in some others, the last spinous 

 ray in the dorsal is entirely invested by the membrane, and does not attain to the 

 margin, so that in counting, it may be very easily overlooked. 



In Mr. Darwin's notes, it is stated that this species bites very severely, 

 having driven its teeth through the finger of one of the officers in the ship's 

 company. Its two very long sharp canine teeth at the back of the lower jaw are 

 well calculated to inflict such a wound. 



2. Salarias quadricornis. Cuv. et Vol.? 



Salarias quadricornis, Cm. et Vol. Hist, des Poiss. torn. xi. p. 243. pi. 329. 



Mr. Darwin's collection contains a species of Salarias so closely resembling 

 the S. quadricornis of Cuvier and Valenciennes, that I dare not describe it as 

 distinct. Yet it offers some slight differences as follows : 



The profile, instead of being merely vertical, presents a rounded and projecting front 

 between the eyes, advancing further than the mouth (as in the S. gibbifrons, Cuv. et Val.) 

 The filamentous appendages are similar, but the superciliary ones are shorter than the dia- 

 meter of the eye : the palmated ones at the nostrils consist of six or seven bristles. The 

 occipital crest is hardly so much elevated ; its height being not more than one-sixth or one- 

 seventh the height of the head, and only one-third its own length. The height of the dorsal 

 equals at least half the depth of the body ; the depth of the notch above the thirteenth spinous 

 ray is rather more than half its height. The fin-ray formula is— 



D. 13/21 ; A. 25 ; C. 13, &c. ; P. 14 ; V. 2. 

 The colour, as it appears in spirits, is nearly of a uniform olivaceous brown, with scarce any 

 indication of vertical bands ; paler on the abdomen. There are four or five oblique narrow 

 whitish lines on the dorsal, but not very distinct ; also two on the anal, more decided : these 

 lines appear to have been bluish, and there are traces of the same colour about the head and 

 gill-covers. 



In all other respects it accords exactly with the description in the " Histoire 

 des Poissons," where it is added, in reference to colour, that this species is subject 

 to much variation. Mr. Darwin's specimen measures five inches two lines in 

 length. The number attached to it has been lost, so that there is nothing to shew 

 where it was taken. It is probably, however, from the Keeling Islands, as there 

 is in the collection, from that locality, another specimen, which I have little doubt 

 of being the female of the one above noticed. 



This second specimen wants the nuchal crest, as is stated to be the case in the female of 

 S. quadricornis. It is not full sized, measuring only three inches four lines in length, which 

 may account for the proportions being a little different from those of the adult. The depth is 

 one-sixth of the entire length, or rather less. The filamentous appendages resemble those of 

 the first specimen, but the nasal ones have rather fewer bristles. In the form of the head, 



