106 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



the lips, naked ; but the cheeks and opercular pieces covered with large scales, which form two 

 rows on the cheeks. Opercle terminating behind in a rounded angle. Scales on the body 

 very large ; eight in the depth, and twenty-one or twenty-two in the length : the entire 

 exposed portion of each scale scabrous with granulations, which are partially disposed in lines 

 towards the free edges. No scales on the vertical fins. The lateral line occupies the second 

 row of scales from the top, till it reaches a little beyond the end of the dorsal, where it becomes 

 interrupted, recommencing in the fourth row, which at this point is the third: tubal pores in 

 some places ramified, but the ramifications not very distinct. 



The dorsal commences above the posterior lobe of the opercle, and is of nearly uniform 

 height throughout. The length of the rays in the soft portion, which is slightly higher than 

 the spinous, is not quite one-third of the depth. The whole length of this fin is half the 

 entire length. The anal answers to the last half of the dorsal, and terminates in the same line . 

 the three spines are slender, and the first very short. Caudal with the central portion slightly 

 convex, but the three outer rays above and below prolonged into a point one-third the length 

 of the whole fin ; the lower point a little longer than the upper. Pectorals about one-fifth of 

 the entire length, pointed, with the upper rays arcuate. Ventrals immediately beneath them, 

 one-third shorter. 

 Colour. — " Fine verditer blue, with some yellow stripes about the head and fins." — D. — The dried 

 skin is nearly of a uniform brown, but the snout and cheeks are much varied with green : the 

 jaws also are green. A bright green patch in front of the eye, immediately beneath which is 

 a pale frsenum, probably yellow in the recent state. Dorsal and anal green : the former shews 

 some trace of a lighter narrow band running longitudinally below the upper edge of the fin ; 

 the latter exhibits a very distinct fascia running along the middle. Caudal pale green, with 

 the upper and lower edges of a much deeper tint. Ventrals in like manner edged with green. 

 Pectorals wholly dusky. 

 Habitat, Keeling Island, Indian Ocean. 



In so extensive a genus as the present, and one in which so much general 

 similarity prevails amongst the species, the task of determining whether any 

 particular one has been described before is extremely difficult. I can only say that 

 the species which I have here ventured to characterize as new has been carefully 

 compared with the descriptions of all those noticed in the " Histoire des Poissons," 

 and though there are several to which it is nearly allied, there is none to which it 

 can be referred with certainty. It seems to approach nearest the S. variegattis, 

 but that species is said to have the caudal square, by which I presume is meant 

 that the upper and under rays are not prolonged into a point, as is the case in so 

 many species of this genus, and in the one here described. 



This species was taken by Mr. Darwin at the Keeling Islands. 



2. Scarus globiceps. Cuv. et Vol. 



S. globiceps, Cuv. et Vol. Hist, des Poiss. torn. xiv. p. 179. 

 Form.— Oblong-oval, very much compressed throughout: the dorsal and ventral lines nearly of 

 equal curvature. Greatest depth contained about three times and one-third in the entire 



