FISH. 107 



length: thickness twice and three-fifths in the dept-h. Head one-fourth of the entire length, 

 rather elevated at the nape, the forehead convex, whence the profile descends nearly in the arc 

 of a circle, giving the snout a blunt and rounded appearance. The height of the head, taken 

 in a vertical line through the eyes, equals nearly but not quite its own length. Mouth small, 

 the gape not reaching half-way to the eye. Jaws very slightly crenated on their cutting 

 edges, the true teeth appearing on the outer surface like minute scales. At the posterior angle 

 of each jaw, and on each side, are two sharp canines projecting horizontally from the corners 

 of the mouth, eight in all. Eyes rather small, their diameter contained six-and-a-half times in 

 the length of the head, situate a little above the middle of the cheek, and a trifle nearer the 

 extremity of the snout than the posterior margin of the opercle. The nostrils consist of two 

 minute orifices a little in advance of the eye, and a little distant from each other, the posterior 

 one largest and kidney-shaped, the anterior round and nearly closed by its membranous 

 border. A cluster of minute pores above and behind the eyes, and a few others scattered about 

 the snout. 



Scales on the body very large, increasing in size at the base of the caudal, where there are 

 three very large ones covering the rays of that fin for half their length or more : twenty-three 

 in a longitudinal line, and nine in the depth. Each scale of a roundish form anteriorly, the 

 basal portion with a projecting lobe in the middle of the hinder margin, and with thirty-one 

 striaj in the fan; the exposed portion finely striated and granulated, with a broad mem- 

 branaceous border : those on the caudal nearly three times as long as broad, but the ordinary 

 ones with the length and breadth nearly equal. Lateral line interrupted ; the upper portion 

 running nearly straight at about one -fourth of the depth, till opposite the end of the dorsal, 

 where it inclines downwards : tubal pores very distinctly ramified. 



Dorsal very low, its height, in the middle of its length, being scarcely more than one- 

 eighth of the depth : the soft rays slightly higher than the spinous, and increasing in length 

 backwards. Anal answering to the last half of the dorsal, and terminating in the same line : 

 three spines at its commencement not stouter than the soft rays, the first very small. The 

 last soft ray in both dorsal and anal double. Caudal with the points about one-fourth of the 

 rest of its length ; when spread, the interval is rectilineal, but when the rays are closed the 

 whole appears crescent-shaped. Pectorals a little shorter than the head, of a somewhat trian- 

 gular form, the rays gradually decreasing in length from the uppermost to the lowermost. 

 Ventrals pointed, about two -thirds the length of the pectorals, and immediately beneath them. 

 A large oblong lanceolate scale between the ventrals, nearly half their length : also an oblong 

 scale in the axilla of each, equalling the last of the soft rays. 



D. 9/10 ; A. 3/9 ; C. 13, &c. ; P. 13 ; V. 1/5. 

 Length 1 1 inches. 



Colour. — Not noticed in the recent state. In spirits, it appears bluish grey on the back and sides 

 with small round whitish spots, the margin of each scale being defined by a purplish line ; paler 

 on the belly : a white transverse line in front of the eyes passing from one to the other ; 

 anterior part of the snout, mouth, cheeks, and lower part of the head, yellowish white. Dorsal 

 and anal pale, the former with three narrow longitudinal purplish lines, the latter with one. A 

 portion of the under surface of the pectorals, extending from the third to the fifth ray, and 



