APPENDIX. 403 



parent, so that the vertebra and the articulations are distinctly seen ; the 

 head is rounded, obtuse, and broader than the body ; nostrils small, oval, 

 seated on a prominence before the eyes ; mouth large, bony ; lips thin ; teeth 

 minute, much incurved, and in about two rows — in front of the palate there 

 is a short row of others ; tongue pointed, but the tip rounded ; eyes large, 

 irides richly silvered, the upper part blackish : when the fish is alive, the 

 pupil is scarcely seen, being turned downward, so that the upper or black 

 part of the irides occupies one-half of the eye : when just dead, I observed 

 it, in the middle, appearing as a small black speck ; but after the fish had 

 been dead some time, to my great surprise the pupil became much larger, 

 that is, as big as the head of a large pin : cheeks fleshy, gill-covers of 

 three pieces, richly silvered, and margined by a thin skin ; the aperture 

 large ; the vent is close to the throat, on a line with the hinder margin of 

 the gill-covers, and considerably in advance of the pectorals ; so also is the 

 commencement of the anal fin, which begins close to the aperture, and 

 extends to the tip of the tail : this fin gradually becomes broader until it 

 reaches beyond half its total length, it then rapidly narrows. The dorsal fin 

 commences at one-fourth the distance from the tip of the snout to the tip 

 of the tail ; it is so remarkably narrow, especially at its two extremities, 

 that it can only be detected at these parts by very close examination. 

 The anal fin is very fleshy, or rather gelatinous at its base, where it is 

 of equal thickness with the body, it then graduates to a fine edge. Pectorals 

 small and rounded. There is no apparent lateral line, but an external 

 indentation follows the course of the back-bone on each side. The body, 

 towards the head, is compressed, but less than in the CepoUe ; and the gill 

 membrane has seven rays. 



The COLOUR of this fish, when just caught and alive, is as follows : — The 

 general tint is light red, marked with waved, zigzag, transverse lines, of a 

 darker or brick red ; these are deepest on the back, where they are 

 separated into spots ; the head is dark above, with a few reddish spots on 

 the sides. On the under part of the indented line already spoken of, and 

 commencing at the pectoral fin, is a row of from nine to ten oblong square 

 spots placed transversely, and gradually diminishing in size : when the fish 

 is alive, they are of a most beautiful golden hue, but after death their 

 splendour fades, and they then become pale and silvery. My drawing also 

 expresses a series of very small spots, placed in the same line, but only for 

 about 2 inches at the end of the tail, and not larger than a pin's head ; 

 but as no mention is made of them in the original description, of %vhich the 

 above is a transcript, I can only conclude they were shining spots of the 

 same description. The total length of two specimens captured, was from 

 6i to 7 inches. The fins are entirely white ; the anal rays by far too nume- 

 rous and too delicate to admit of being counted. 



riERASFER wacM/ato {jig. ISO. 6.). 



Head and forepart of the body with numerous blackish 

 spots_, gill-covers golden. 



I know not whether to record this as a remarkable variety of the above, 

 or as a distinct species. I only met with a single specimen ; and having 

 drawn its head, already copied in this work, and made the following notes, 

 it was put into spirits for the British Museum, and is now lost, " Since 

 writing the above, I have found another specimen, in which the colours 

 were very different : it was much darker, being dusky purple, with the 

 reddish lines marked by 'round blackish spots. There were also numerous 

 ones on the cheeks and sides, as well as a few beneath tlae under jaw. The 

 gill-covers, no less than the.spots on the forepart of the body, were richly 

 gilt. Palermo, February 12th, 1835." 



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