percoidejE. 27 



The Scales adhere firmly to the skin and are rather large. On the sides and tail there is 

 no great difference in their sizes ; on the gill-covers, though more rounded, they are nearly as 

 large, but the cheeks, ridge of the back, and flattened surface of the belly, are covered with 

 smaller scales; while the smallest of all are on the bases of the fins and on the membrane 

 connecting their soft rays. The form of the scales is the segment of an oval approach- 

 ing to a semicircle — their bases are very evenly truncated, and are marked with fifteen 

 or sixteen faint furrows or lines, corresponding to minute crenatures of the margin — the 

 rest of their surface appears rough under the lens, particularly towards their exterior semi- 

 circular margins. A scale taken from the side measures four lines longitudinally, and five 

 transversely. A linear inch, measured on the side on a line level with the tip of the gill- 

 cover, contains nearly eight scales, and there are thirty-eight in all, in that row, exclusive of 

 four or five small ones on the caudal fin ; there are forty-two or forty-three on the lateral line, 

 also excluding the latter. At the greatest depth of the body there are twenty-two scales in a 

 vertical row, of which six are above the lateral line, and twelve between it, and the first ray of 

 the ventral, with three scales for the half breadth of the belly. 



Head small, forming one-third of the length of the fish, excluding the caudal fin. The 

 scales of the nape terminate on a line with the posterior edge of the orbits; the rest of the 

 upper surface of the head, the infra-orbitar bones, the mandibles, the preoperculum, the inferior 

 margins of the other bones of the gill-cover, and also the anterior ridge and ear-like tip of the 

 operculum, and the branchiostegous membrane, are smooth ; the other parts of the gill-cover 

 and the cheeks are scaly. All the bones lining the gill-openings posteriorly, and those sup- 

 porting the pectoral fins, are without serratures on their edges : the anterior surface of the 

 latter is covered by a row of scales. The orbits, exactly circular, are close to the forehead, 

 and more than their own diameter above the articulation of the lower jaw, one diameter from 

 the tip of the snout, and two from the tip of the gill -cover. The anterior infra-orbitar bone is 

 rather large, has a rhomboidal shape, with the lower angle rounded off, and is marked with 

 irregular ridges and furrows. The nostrils, situated in the angle between the eye and snout, 

 have their two orifices rather distant from each other. The mouth is small : the intermaxil- 

 laries, forming its upper border and attached to the snout by pedicels, are capable of a slight 

 protrusion. The labials, proportionably much smaller than in Centrarchus (sneus, slide under the 

 sub-orbitar bone, leaving only a fourth part uncovered. The lower jaw shuts in before the 

 intermaxillaries, giving the commissure of the mouth nearly an angle of 45°. The articula- 

 tion of the jaw is opposite to the anterior margin of the orbit. There are no pores on the 

 lower jaw, though there is a canal in the bone with two orifices covered by skin. 



Teeth. — The opposing surfaces of both mandibles are covered with small teeth crowded 

 closely together ; the outer ones are nearly cylindrical and rather obtuse, the inner ones more 

 awl-shaped, slender, and acute. The vomer forms a strong, horse-shoe shaped projection, 

 chevron, or gorget, and is armed like the jaws. The palatine bones and tongue are smooth. 

 On the upper pharyngeal bones there is a pair of triangular plates of teeth " en pave?'' there 

 being forty or fifty cylindrical teeth with flat crowns in each triangle ; behind which there is 

 a pair of smaller irregular plates of more minute teeth. On the inferior pharyngeal bones 



E 2 



