PERCOIDE^E. 13 



Fins.— Br. 7; D. 14/ — 1/21 ; P. 13; F. 1/5; ^. 1/13; C. 17-ft. 



The/rs^ dorsad is arched and contains fourteen spinous rays. In our specimen the third, 

 fourth, and seventh are the longest, the fifth and sixth, though acute, being rather shorter, 

 probably from their growth having been accidentally impeded : the first stands over the tip 

 of the gill-cover and insertion of the pectorals, and is not half so high as the third, but. longer 

 than the thirteenth, and twice as long as the fourteenth. The second dorsal commences an 

 inch, or seven scales breadth, posterior to the membranous termination of the first, or to the 

 middle point between the end of the snout and tips of the caudal : its rays are longest from 

 the third to the seventh, the posterior ones becoming gradually shorter : the first is very 

 short and appears to be spinous, the two next are simple but articulated, and the remainder 

 are branched at their summits : the twenty-two rays are supported by twenty-one interspinous 

 bones. The anal terminates opposite to the nineteenth ray of the second dorsal : three or four 

 scales are interposed betwixt it and the anus : its spinous ray is very short and closely applied 

 to the second, which also appears, at first sight, to be spinous, but its articulations are per- 

 ceptible through a lens *. The ventrals are situated a very little posterior to the pectorals, 

 and contain five thick articulated rays, with a spinous one closely applied to the lower half of 

 the first. Caudal slightly crescentic at the extremity, composed of seventeen rays, with 

 eleven additional short ones at the base above and below. 



Scales. — The scales are of a form approaching to semi-orbicular, but more or less oblique; 

 a narrow border round the uncovered portion is rough, with little crowded points sensible to 

 the touch, but which require the aid of a lens to render them visible; the truncated base is 

 marked irregularly with a variable number of crenatures corresponding to faintly impressed, 

 nearly parallel streaks. There are ninety scales on the lateral line f , and forty in a vertical 

 row just behind the ventrals — eleven of them above the lateral line. The latter is almost 

 perfectly straight, and is on a level with the upper edge of the gill-cover. The scales above 

 it are not only smaller than those on the sides, but also more closely tiled, so as to appear 

 much smaller when in situ ; they are also rounder with much less obliquity. The ordinary 

 scales terminate on the base of the caudal by a semicircular outline, and there are also some 

 very small ones on the membrane beyond, extending farthest between the outer rays. A scale 

 from the back measures two lines and three quarters, both in length and breadth. On the sides 

 they are about three lines and a half wide by three lines long. A linear inch measured on 

 the sides includes seven scales ; on the back there are nine or ten in an inch. 



Colour. — Mr. Todd describes the back as dark, the sides dark yellow, and the belly 

 whitish. In the dried skin the scales, as low as the lateral line, appear blackish-green, with 

 very narrow pale exterior margins. On the sides the dark colour is confined more to the base 

 of each scale, producing an obscure reticulation. There is a black patch on the membrane of 

 the three posterior rays, and traces of dark clouding on other parts of the fin, particularly 

 behind the first ray. 



* Cuvier marks the rays of this fin 2/11, but our specimen shows the above very distinctly. The second dorsal is also 

 marked 1/20 by him. 



f Between each pair of scales proper to the lateral line, the edges of two adjoining scales intervene and overlap. There 

 are one hundred and twelve scales in the row immediately beneath the lateral line. 



