OTOLITHUS ^QUIDENS.— Cuv. & Val. 



Pisces. — Plate XIII. 



O. supra obscure cceruleo-purpureus, nebulis viridibus aurantiisque variegatus ; corporis lateribus infra 

 lineam lateralem, partibusque inferioribus argenteo-albis, flavo-tiuctis et griseo-purpureo-umbratis ; oris 

 partibus internis flavis ; linea. laterali subdeflexa, continua ; corpore elongato subovale ; capite antice 

 acuminato ; maxilla inferiore ultra superiore porrecta ; squarnis parvis, postice semicircularibus. 

 Longitudo ab apice nasi ad pinnae caudalis extremitatem in adulto, 3 ped. ad 4 ped. 6 unc. 

 Otolithus JEqttidens, Cuv.fy Val. — Hist. Nat. des Poissons, torn. 5, folio 66. 

 Geel Bek of the Cape Colonists. 



Colour. — The ground colour of the back, and the upper part of the sides 

 above the lateral line, dull bluish purple, irregularly clouded with oil-green 

 and light orange-red, — the upper surface of the head and the centre of the 

 back in front of the dorsal fin, flashed with resplendent aurora-red ; the 

 scapular plate imperial purple, obscured with blackish purple. The sides 

 below the lateral line and the under parts pale silvery- white, tinted with 

 yellow, and shaded, especially the former, with light lavender-purple, the 

 shades strongest towards the lateral line. The sides of the head, including 

 the gill-covers, are oil-green, clouded with imperial purple, resplendent 

 aurora-red and king's-yellow. The intermaxillary bones at the angles of the 

 mouth are ultra-marine blue, and the groove between each and the maxillary 

 bone gamboge-yellow. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins, are light cochineal- 

 red, shaded with pale brownish red ; the pectoral fins dull ash-grey, fading 

 posteriorly into yellowish white, and each fin towards the base is tinted with 

 oil-green. Ventral fins yellowish-white, shaded with dull flesh-red. The 

 edges of the lower jaw towards the angles of the mouth, and the inside of the 

 mouth, are bright gamboge-yellow. The eyes are saffron-yellow, shaded with 

 hyacinth-red. 



Form, &c— Body rather compressed and oblong-ovate, greatest depth 

 nearly one-fifth of its length, the part between dorsal and caudal fins very 

 slender. The dorsal outline rather more curved than the ventral. Head 

 conical, the apex formed by the pointed lower jaw which projects beyond the 

 upper ; the length of the head measured to hinder edge of operculum not 

 quite one-fourth of the whole length of the fish. Eyes moderately large, 

 situated directly over the hinder extremities of the maxillary bones ; nostrils 



