170 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



extremity of the lower jaw in a toothless space. Orbit ovate, situated twice its length from the 

 end of the snout, and about three lengths and a half from the posterior edge of the gill-cover : 

 its transverse axis is contained six times and a half in the total length of the head, but rather 

 less than four times in the distance between the tip of the snout and nape of the neck : its 

 upper margin is marked, in the dried specimen, by a few raised diverging lines. Nostrils twice 

 as near to the orbit as to the end of the snout. Jaws nearly equal, the lower one appearing 

 longer than the other when depressed. Intermaxillaries one-third of the length of the labials, 

 each containing four teeth. Labials of medium length, thin and slightly curved, so as to 

 approach the form of an italic f; their appophyses do not reach quite to their tips, and are 

 as broad again as the limb of the bone to which they are attached. The distance from the 

 tip of the snout to the posterior end of the labial nearly equals the length of the upper sur- 

 face of the head. Lower jaw moderately strong, tipped by a small knob, and extending 

 about half an inch beyond the snout, when depressed to the utmost. 



Teeth. — The labials, intermaxillaries, and lower jaw are armed with short, conical, acute, 

 and very slightly-curved teeth in a single series : there is also a row of rather larger teeth 

 intermixed with smaller ones on the elevated outer edge of each palate-bone, and a projecting 

 cluster of six or seven on the knob of the vomer, the posterior part of that bone being fiat, 

 smooth, and toothless. The tongue has six teeth in a row on each side, equal in size to those 

 on the jaws, and three or four clustered rows of smaller ones on its tip : it is smooth in the 

 centre. 



Gill-covers. — The forms of the opercular pieces, though similar to those of S. Rossii, differ 

 in their relative dimensions, the breadth of the operculum being greater in proportion to its 

 height, while that of the suboperculum is less : the preoperculum is also wider. There are 

 twelve flat gill-rays on the left side, and eleven on the right. 



Fins.— Br. 11—12; P. 15; D. 13—0; V. 9 ; A. 10 or 11; C. \%. 



The pectorals contain fifteen rays, and twice their length reaches from the gill-opening 

 to the middle of the ventrals. The ventrals, when turned back, almost touch the anus. 

 The fifth dorsal ray is the longest, the first one being minute : the attachment of the fin is 

 two-thirds of its height. The adipose fin is opposite to the last rays of the anal. The anal 

 is small in proportion to the dorsal, its rays being about one-fourth shorter than those of the 

 latter. The caudal is forked : it contains nineteen broad deeply-divided rays, and six short 

 basal ones above and below. The eighth dorsal ray is midway between the tip of the snout 

 and extremities of the central rays of the caudal. 



Scales small, thin, and roundish, firmly and smoothly imbedded in the skin : they are 

 mostly in contact but not tiled, those on the back small and more remote ; they are also small 

 on the belly, but more crowded and of an oval form : on the sides they are somewhat trun- 

 cated. The lateral line is formed of 126 scales similar to those of S. Rossii ; there are about 

 285 scales in a row close to the lateral line, and 70 in a vertical row anterior to the ventrals 

 29 of which are above the lateral line, and ten below the upper edge of the ventral. The 

 anterior scales on the lateral line are so large and remote, that they correspond to two or three 

 of the rows which descend from the back. 



