88 



ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



fins, and all its other characters, it is exactly similar. The fin-ray formula is a little 

 different ; 



D. 13/20; A. 23; &c— 

 The colours, also, as they appear in spirits, are rather different. The general ground of 

 the body is olivaceous grey, but paler than in the male specimen, and inclining to yellowish, 

 with faint indications of vertical bands, and also a few dark spots towards the tail end. 

 Dorsal and anal spotted, the former more so than the latter. Mr. Darwin's notes, taken from 

 the recent fish, merely state,—" with dull red transverse lines." 



The S. quadricornis is stated by Cuvier and Valenciennes to be very common 

 at the Mauritius, whence it may not improbably range as far eastward as the 

 Keeling Islands. 



3. MALARIAS VOMERINUS. ClW. et Val. ? 



Salarias vomerinus 1 Guv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. torn. xi. p. 258. 

 Plate XVII. Fig. 3. 

 Form.— Elongated and compressed, the thickest part being in the region of the gills. Greatest 

 depth contained about six and a-half times in the entire length : thickness at the pectorals 

 about two-thirds of the depth, or rather more. Length of the head rather exceeding the depth 

 of the body, and exceeding its own depth by about one-fourth. Snout obtuse; broad and 

 rounded when viewed from above. Lips crenated at the sides of the mouth, but not in the 

 middle. Teeth in the jaws moveable, extremely fine and numerous : two long canines at the 

 bottom of the lower jaw, curving backwards, and fitting into two corresponding holes in the 

 palate : also a transverse row of minute teeth on the front of the vomer. Profile nearly ver- 

 tical; the eyes placed just within the angle formed by it with the line of the crown. Two 

 broad palmated superciliary filaments, not equal in length to the diameter of the eyes : two 

 similar ones at the nostrils, each consisting of six or eight bristles : also two short simple 

 filaments, one on each side of the nape. 



The dorsal, which commences a little behind the nuchal filaments, is so deeply notched 

 behind the twelfth ray as almost to appear like two fins. The height of the anterior or spinous 

 portion is about two-fifths of the depth : the posterior is more elevated, equalling three-fourths 

 of the depth : this portion is connected by its membrane with the upper part of the tail, but 

 does not reach to the caudal, leaving an interval just equal to half the depth of the tail at this 

 point. The anal commences opposite the eleventh ray of the dorsal, and does not reach so far 

 as that fin, leaving three times the space between it and the caudal : the first two rays short 

 and soft, the first scarcely connected by membrane with those that follow ; the membrane 

 deeply notched between all the rays, excepting the last three, where it is continuous. Caudal 

 slightly rounded at the extremity. Pectorals broad, but a little pointed when the rays are not 

 spread out; longer than the head, the fifth and sixth rays from the bottom being longest. Ven- 

 trals short, only half the length of the pectorals, or one-tenth of the entire length, consisting 

 (which is unusual in this genus) of four distinct rays, two shorter and slender ones, besides the 

 two ordinary thick ones. 



The lateral line is faintly indicated by a fine line which sweeps over the pectorals, and then 

 passes off straight along the middle. As far as the pectorals reach, the line is continuous : 



