22 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



The posterior flat points or plates are also covered with smooth skin, but the bordering mem- 

 brane, and all the rest of the operculum, are scaly. The supra-scapular, and bones lining 

 the posterior margin of the gill-openings, are smooth and toothless. 



The Scales have their exterior edges forming a segment of a circle, their sides parallel, 

 and their bases truncated : exteriorly they are smooth to the naked eye, but under a lens 

 their surfaces and edges are covered with minute teeth : on the covered bases there are 

 diverging furrows with fourteen corresponding crenatures of the edge : the size of the scales 

 is greatest on the sides, smaller on the back, belly, and tail, and smallest on the head, par- 

 ticularly the cheeks : they cover the occiput, terminating between the eyes. One from the 

 sides is nearly five lines wide, and rather more than four lines long. The lateral line follows 

 the curve of the back at the distance of an inch. It contains forty-three or forty-four scales, 

 and there are forty in a longitudinal row on a line with the tip of the gill-cover. A vertical 

 row under the beginning of the dorsal contains twenty-one scales. 



Fins.— Br. 6; D. 11/11; A. 6/10; P 14; V. 1/5; C. 16f. 



The dorsal commences a little behind the base of the pectorals, and just anterior to the tip 

 of the operculum : its eleven anterior rays are spinous, very acute, and gradually increase in 

 height from the first, which measures four lines to the sixth, which is nine lines in height : 

 the soft rays are an inch and a quarter long, and the outline of that part of the fin is rounded. 

 There are three interspinous bones anterior to the first dorsal spine, bur, no vestige of rays 

 belonging to them. The ventrals stand opposite to the third dorsal spine ; and the anal, 

 beginning opposite to the tenth, contains six strong, tapering, and very acute spines, the fifth 

 of which, being the longest, measures nearly an inch : the soft part of the fin is one inch and 

 a half deep, and is rounded — three or four of its rays are posterior to the last ray of the dorsal. 

 The caudal is very slightly two-lobed, unless when spread to the utmost, when it is almost 

 even : its length equals the part of the tail behind the dorsal, or constitutes one-sixth of the 

 total length of the fish, The bases of the caudal, dorsal, and anal, are scaly for a short 

 space. 



Colour. — Not having had an opportunity of examining a recent specimen, I am indebted 

 to Mr. Todd for the following description of the colours : — " Back dark ; sides honey-yellow, 

 with a quadrangular black mark on the base of each scale, sometimes including the tip of the 

 overlying scale. These marks are most distinct on the sides, where they form rows." M. 

 Le Sueur says, " The general colour is brilliant coppery, with irregular spots of a blackish- 

 brown, and olive upon the back, the head, and opercula; the jaws, lips, and throat are black; 

 thorax bluish-grey : these colours, which are very beautiful during life, disappear when it 

 dies, and become of a bluish-grey, brown, or black ; lateral scales with their base and extre- 

 mity black, so as by their junction they produce the lines of black spots which ornament this 

 fish. Pectoral, ventral, and anal fins marbled with reddish-brown and blue ; the anal and 

 dorsal have a black border with their bases dark brown, the rays distinguished by their light 

 colour; the soft part of the dorsal is maculated with small irregular spots. Pupil dark blue ; 

 iris red and black." 



