28 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



there is one pair of rectangular plates of teeth similar to the anterior plates above, and, like 

 them, larger than the teeth on the jaws. The branchial arches are each furnished with a 

 pair of rows of very small tubercles, which are rough with teeth so minute as to be invisible 

 to the naked eye. 



Gill-covers. — The upper limb of the preoperculum, descending almost vertically, termi- 

 nates by a curve in the lower one, whose inferior border is scarcely crenated, being only 

 slightly and minutely undulated. The inter operculum has a row of scales adjoining the 

 overlying border of the preoperculum, the largest scale being opposite to the angle of that 

 bone. The suboperculum, instead of being small and triangular, as in centrarchus <eneus, is 

 long, and is attached to the whole under edge of the operculum : it is covered by a row of 

 scales which leave a narrow under border naked. The operculum is triangular with the 

 posterior apex rounded : in the recent specimen this rounded tip is lengthened out by mem- 

 brane into the coloured ear-like appendix from whence the generic name is derived. The 

 anterior margin of the operculum rises into a smooth ridge, between the lower end of which 

 and the angle of the preoperculum there are two scales, being a continuation of the row which 

 exists on the interoperculum. The under margin of the operculum also forms a smooth line 

 betwixt the scales on its surface and the row covering the suboperculum. 



Fins.— Br. 6—6 ; D. 10/12*; P. 13; V. 1/5; A. 3/10; C. 17f 



The branchiostegous rays are considerably curved ; the posterior one is flattened, the others 

 are nearly cylindrical. The dorsal fin commences opposite to the tip of the gill-cover and 

 base of the pectorals : the ten spinous rays occupy nearly one-third more space than the 

 twelve articulated ones, but the latter are considerably higher. Three interspinous bones 

 without rays fill up the space between the first dorsal spine and the thin, elevated occipital crest 

 which supports the ridge of the nape. The first ray of the pectorals is spinous, though as 

 slender as the others ; it is about half the length of the longest soft ray. The ventrals 

 attached opposite to the fourth dorsal spine consist of five articulated rays, supported anteriorly 

 by a moderately stout spinous one one-third shorter. The anal fin commences a quarter of 

 an inch behind the anus, and terminates opposite to the last dorsal ray : its three first rays 

 are strong, somewhat compressed, awl-shaped acute spines, of which the third is twice the 

 length of the first, but scarcely half as long as the articulated rays that follow : the outline of 

 the fin is rounded. The caudal fin is slightly sinuated at the extremity with rounded lobes. 

 Small scales cover its outer rays two-thirds of their length, but they extend only a short way 

 on the central rays. 



Intestines. 



Stomach a roundish sack bent up on the oesophagus and having its internal coat longitu- 

 dinally plaited : the pylorus is wide, and is surrounded by a collar of six cylindrical, obtuse 

 cceca each an inch long. The gut is a cylindrical tube bent twice upon itself between the 

 pylorus and anus : its coats, like those of the stomach, are rather thick, and its lining also 

 forms longitudinal folds. 



* Another specimen has only eleven soft rays, but it has an additional short spine at the beginning of the fin. 



